OLE SMOKE! IT’S ABOUT TO GET TOUGHER
Solskjaer is already feeling heat and with Newcastle, PSG, Chelsea, Leipzig and Arsenal next it will get MUCH HOTTER
WHEN Manchester United lost 2- 0 at Olympiacos, Ed Woodward took a picture of the scoreboard as a sobering reminder of his lowest point in charge.
Six years on and Woodward can update it with a snap of Sunday’s Old Trafford scoreboard following United’s spineless 6-1 defeat to Tottenham.
It was not lost on Woodward (right) United’s heaviest defeat under him came at the hands of Jose Mourinho, the man he sacked in December 2018 for a perceived failure to take the club forward.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer represented a “cultural reboot” for United, a return to the club’s core values of investing in youth, espoused by Sir Matt Busby and followed, with huge success, by Sir Alex Ferguson.
Solskjaer guided United to third place last season, their highest finish since Mourinho took them to second spot two years earlier, with the move to appoint their former striker seemingly vindicated.
But, just three games into the new Premier League campaign, Solskjaer is under pressure after two home defeats and seemingly without the personnel to lift United out of their current crisis.
As the dust settled on United’s biggest defeat since their 6-1 loss at home to Manchester City in 2011, the predictable soundings came from O ld Trafford that it had no bearing on n Solskjaer’s position. n.
Certainly, Liverpool’s pool’s shock 7-2 defeat at Aston Villa served to take some of the heat off Solskjaer.
But United’s next run of games will provide a true test of the security of his position.
After the international break, United travel to Newcastle, where they lost 1- 0 this time last season, to face a Steve Bruce side in the top half of the table and one which will make life hard for Solskjaer’s side.
After that, it is a return to France in the Champions League, to the scene of Solskjaer’s finest moment as United boss, the 3-1 win away to Paris Saint-Germain in March 2019, which secured him the job on a permanent basis.
With United in such wretched form and their defence so vulnerable, PSG’s deadly front three of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and former Red Angel Di Maria will relish the opportunity to tear them apart and ex exact revenge. A After the trip to P Paris there is no r respite, with Chelsea, last season’s beaten C Champ ions L League semifinalists fina RB Leipzig, and Arsenal Ar to face in a testing run of fixtures. Failure in those five games and it will be hard for United to continue backing Solskjaer, particularly with the spectre of Mauricio Pochettino looming large over the beleaguered Norwegian.
Former Spurs boss Pochettino has always been seen as a United boss in waiting and, with Ferguson having privately endorsed his candidacy, there will be a clamour for him to be appointed if Solskjaer cannot turn things around.
Solskjaer has faced the same scenario that ultimately did for Mourinho two years ago, with United having failed to build on the previous season’s progress by landing his top transfer targets. But it is always the manager, not those in charge like Woodward, who will pay the price for that.
Former United captain Gary Neville accused his old club of being caught in a revolving door policy of managerial appointments, never giving them enough time or backing in the transfer market to succeed long-term.
“This is almost a repetitive cycle,” said Neville. “We saw it with Louis van Gaal, when he won the FA Cup final and the club pulled out on him just as he was building a half-de half-decent squad and team. Wi With Jose, they backed out on him in that transfer window a couple of seasons ago having given him a contract.
“I just feel Ole did achieve the maximum with these players last season, in getting them to third.
“There was no way he was going to get to the level of Liverpool or Manchester City.
“I thought Jose was playing a game a few years ago when he said it was an unbelievable achievement finishing second with that squad but, on ref lection, he was probably right.”