After the highs of the opening day of the 2019-20 Premier League season, where Manchester United trounced Chelsea 4-0, Ole Gunnar Solsksjaer and his men have been brought down to the ground, and quite swiftly, too. The United team drew against Wolves when they dominated the game, and matters worsened the following week when they were defeated at home by Crystal Palace.
They couldn’t even take advantage of having one extra man on the pitch after Southampton were down to 10 men this past weekend and could only draw 1-1.
The Red Devils are in a serious crisis as they have an average team that could very well drop out of the top 6 this season. Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is to take a majority of the blame, and it won’t be a surprise if the English club sack their former striker before Christmas, much like what happened to former manager Jose Mourinho last season.
While a number of issues are pertaining to how the club is being run, we feel Ole Gunnar Solskjaer might end up being the fall guy in a couple of months.
Let us look at 3 reasons why the former striker might face the same fate as Jose Mourinho.
Tactical nous
Under the Norwegian manager, Manchester United got off to a phenomenal start last season, winning 8 of their first 10 games in the Premier League. But it all fell apart March onwards as they lost 5 of their last 10 games, and drew 2 more games.
Solskjaer and United’s coaching team seem to have not learnt from the end of the season as there seems to be little change in the tactics that have been employed. United still play a similar formation to what they did at the end of the season, playing a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation.
While the strengthening of the defence has given the midfielders more opportunities to go forward, the current players in the squad do not have the quality to make an impact in the forward areas. Solskjaer seems to not have a plan B or plan C when playing against stubborn sides like Wolves and Crystal Palace, which results in United having a lot of the ball but with no penetration, while also being susceptible to counter attacks from the opposition, something which their lightweight midfield has repeatedly failed to deal with.
Transfer strategy
A manager should be given at least 2 or 3 transfer windows to change up a squad and bring in players that he needs, but a club in a crisis like Manchester United need to buy big in every transfer window as they need a complete makeover. What has been baffling about Solskjaer’s transfer strategy is that he – and the United board, who are mostly to blame for the current mess that United are in – haven’t replaced players in key areas.
The signing of Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka has filled two massive holes in the defence for United, but the club didn’t sign a replacement for midfielders Marouane Fellaini and Ander Herrera, who left in the last two transfer windows.
This has meant that United have one of the weakest midfields in the top 6, or even the top 8, with the likes of Nemanja Matic and Fred flopping, youngsters Andreas Pereira and Scott McTominay inconsistent, while Paul Pogba doesn’t seem to want to stay at Old Trafford beyond this season.
Another big area that United are weak is the striker’s position as United did not replace their second-highest goalscorer from last season, Romelu Lukaku, who left Manchester United for Inter Milan.
Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, and 17-year-old Mason Greenwood are Solskjaer’s options up top, with the former two inconsistent, while the teenage striker is yet to open his Manchester United account.
Unoriginal man management
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seems to want to replicate Sir Alex Ferguson’s footballing model at Old Trafford once again, with his dependence on youth, playing style, and his man-management technique. Ferguson is one of the greatest minds in football, but aping a manager may not necessarily work for a young manager, who hasn’t managed anywhere near as big a club as Manchester United.
The initial string of good results could probably be down to a run of easy games and players being motivated under a new manager, but the end of last season showed that Solskjaer does not have different ideas when the chips are down. Perhaps he is not cut out for this level yet and could find this rebuilding job at Manchester United a little too big a task for him.
