Solskjaer deserves more time, but if United want to change, forget Zidane and Conte and go for Rodgers

I HOPE Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is still the manager of Manchester United at the end of this season.

But – and there has to be a but after the desultory performance last weekend – if Solskjaer’s time is up, United should move heaven and earth to bring Brendan Rodgers to Old Trafford.

Rodgers has proved he can manage big clubs, deliver success, give young players the stage to develop and produce teams with attacking flair to excite the fans.

He took Liverpool to within an inch of the title seven years ago, led Celtic to the gates of a triple Treble in Scotland and won the FA Cup at Leicester.

For all the talk of Antonio Conte (right) or Zinedine Zidane (above) taking over at United, I think Rodgers would be the ideal fit for a club built on the values and ethos of the Busby Babes.

As things stand, there is no vacancy in the manager’s office at United. And I am NOT chasing Ole out of the door. I like him and he’s done a good job to improve the team year-on-year.

But let’s not tap-dance around the issue: Solskjaer is on the brink. He is not stupid, he knows being humiliated 5-0 at home by Liverpool is simply not acceptable. The manner of the performance, the defensive shambles, the scale of embarrassment which made hundreds of fans leave after an hour at the Liverpool debacle, was a new low for one of the world’s biggest clubs.

This is Solskjaer’s team. He built it, he knows he will be judged by the results it produces. And he did not bring Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho to Old Trafford to finish below West Ham and Brighton.

He is expected to deliver trophies but United are already eight points behind leaders Chelsea. They are not going to win the title. Finishing in the top four is now the big worry.

United scrambled two dramatic wins in their Champions League group, but let’s be honest: they don’t look European Cup winners this season, either.

And since they are already out of the League Cup, that means the FA Cup is realistically the only trophy United can win in the 2021-22 campaign. And winning the FA Cup was not enough to save Louis van Gaal in 2016.

Keyboard warriors and social media snipers will tell you I’ve only been supportive of Solskjaer because my son Charlie is a young pro on the books at

United. Absolute nonsense – I never call for a manager’s head and I’m not going to start now.

But I don’t understand why Solskjaer left Paul Pogba on the bench last weekend.

OK, Pogba’s red card was inexcusable, and I hear fellow pundits talk of Solskjaer not trusting him but Pogba has won the World Cup, so the manager of France seems to trust him on the big occasion.

And I hear people talking about Ronaldo as if he’s the problem.

Really? When you lose 5-0 at home, I don’t think pointing the finger at world’s greatest player this century is where you start the inquest.

Ronaldo wasn’t the problem when he dug out late winners against Villarreal and Atalanta to shield his boss from the heat in Europe, was he?

It really feels like Amen Corner for Solskjaer now, and I hope he survives.

But if change becomes inevitable, United’s best solution is not halfway across Europe – it’s 112 miles away at the

King Power.