OLE GUNNAR SOLKSJAER : Five Talking Points

December 18th 2018, a day considered as a Victory for Football by most sections of the Man United Fan base. This was not because FIFA had just implemented a new law to Fight Racism & Discrimination neither was it UEFA stamping their feet on Financial doping. It was because the most successful Man United manager in the Post-Ferguson era, Jose Mourinho was sacked.

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s Announcement was made amid mass hysteria & gazillions of opinions from the English media, fans & legends of the club. The choice to make him Caretaker coach, was a popular one at the time, being a club legend himself, famous for scoring the Winner against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League Final, his job was to steady the ship at least, until results improve. Coincidentally, his first game at the helm was at his old stomping ground, the Cardiff city stadium. A 5-0 trashing of Neil Warnock’s men was the first time Man United had scored five goals in a game since David Moyes’ United beat Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 in the Champions League in 2013. As Expected, Ole rode on the wave, the “New Manager Bounce” was in full flow.

Football is easy when you’ve got talented players, they’re a great Bunch of players, their Quality is Unbelievable

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer on Man United players after the 5-0 away win at Cardiff, December 2018

Did he really mean that? or perhaps it was because he had to show that he was the opposite of his Predecessor? Lets Find out by looking at this Five key talking points surrounding the Ole Era.

RESULTS

We can divide the Solksjaer era into two parts, as Caretaker & his current position as 1st team Manager. Ole guided the team to 14 wins in his first 19 games, a run that included a David de Gea inspired 1-0 win at Wembley against Tottenham. Paul Pogba & Marcus Rashford in blistering form contributed to the 40 goals United scored in this period, all Climaxing in the 3-1 Away victory over PSG at Le Parc de Princes securing a UCL Quarter-final ticket, where we eventually bowed to the genius of Lionel Messi. After his permanent appointment, the club have recorded just 6 wins in 21 games. The worst run of form since United were deemed too good to go down under Sir Matt Busby.

After the 1-0 loss to Newcastle, the team currently sits in 12th place, 2 points above the drop zone. If anyone honestly thinks relegation is far fetched, they should understand that Football doesn’t respect history or the name of the club. The 1970’s is a perfect remembrance of that.

PLAYER EXITS

During the off-season, Manchester United shipped out 6 First team players. Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Matteo Darmian, Chris Smalling all joined Inter, Parma & Roma in Italy. Antonio Valencia moved to LDU Quito in his homeland while Basque midfield maestro, Ander Herrera joined the Qataris in Paris at the expiration of his contract. It was reported by the Times that Manchester United didn’t replace them because the club didn’t want to sign any player that did not fit Ole’s “cultural reboot”. A plan to sign players with Ethos exemplary of a true servant of the club. Many argue it’s a “Brexit-esque” move as only British players have come in so far.

Romelu Lukaku scored twice for Belgium last night as he became the first Belgian in history to score 51 International goals. It’s bewildering that a striker with over 230 career goals at 26 can fit the Plans of managers like Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho & Roberto Martinez, but not that of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer. The Baton has been passed to Marcus Rashford so far, with just 21 touches in 90 minutes against Newcastle, It’s safe to say football is a bit more complicated than having “a poor first touch”. Of course we cannot put the blame solely on Rashford, the midfield has been a shambles at times but All that talk of Ole giving him the same shooting lessons that led to Crisitiano Ronaldo becoming a 40 goal-a-season striker is now Ancient folklore.

Whoever made the decision to not replace Ander Herrera should be fired with immediate effect. Andreas Perriera has played alongside Pogba & Mctominay in a midfield three so far this season, but he always flatters to deceive. Despite going on loan to two Spanish clubs (Granada & Valencia) in the past, he doesn’t seem to be really good on the ball. Deployed at Left wing & on the right sometimes, he rarely commands a 7/10 rating in whatever position he plays. To be honest, no way is he first team quality. Reinforcements are 100% needed in January.

GLAZER SUPPORT

Fans have not taken likely some comments made by Ole concerning the Glazer family. At the tail-end of the 2018/19 season, he openly told the press that “The Glazers have spent enough money”, that alone is sacrilegious. In 2018, Manchester United generated record revenues of $771 million from Matchday & Commercial revenues, with Romelu Lukaku joining Inter for $72 million & the club signing Maguire, Wan-Bissaka & James for a combined cost of $175 million, it means the club spent just over a $100 million this summer. Compare that to Juventus ($205 million), Atletico Madrid ($270 million), Real Madrid ($340 million) and you’ll clearly see the Glazers spent peanuts, nothing compared to the elites. Manchester United being the third most valuable Football club on the planet makes it even worse.

FANS CRITICISM

The Loudest ones are probably not the best fans & i do not get too much of it

Ole speaking in Australia, Wednesday 10th July, 2019

No club stands without a fan base. Coaches, Players, Managers come and go but the fans remain. During the 1st Press conference of United’s pre-season tour of Australia, Ole responded to criticism from Fans who set up a twitter campaign on #FiveKeyQuestions the Glazer family need to answer. While others voiced their discontent over the slow approach to transfer dealings at the club.

Do fans sit down quietly & watch the team they pay good money to perform go out on the pitch & not register a shot on target? I think not.

TACTICS

Pace and Power that’s what we are, when we have players like we have with pace… that’s how we played with Cole, Giggs, Yorke & Beckham. We attack quickly with pace, that’s my philosophy as well

Solksjaer in January 2019 on his tactics.

During the initial run of good Results, this was the perfect strategy. It seemed completely opposite of Mourinho’s cautiousness at times, but how long was it going to be sustainable? It made sense, a perfect synchronization of the good results with the Inevitable “New Manager bounce”. A dip in fitness levels coupled with losing 4-0 at Goodison park made this plan null & void. The 2-1 loss to Palace at Old Trafford showed Attacking with speed is his only move. Palace sat deep all game, Pogba was deployed in the deep lying midfield role alongside Mctominay & United offered zero creativity.

If a team sits deep & fills spaces in front of the United attack, we offer zero threat. Solksjaer basing his system on Sir Alex’s Tactics of the 90’s shows a partial lack of Tactical ingenuity. The palace defeat set up a template the bottom 10 clubs can follow. The Newcastle game was another proof that the lesser teams are following. A seismic change is needed as soon as possible.