Ole: I’m a Red to the core
MANCHESTER UNITED have nine games to prove they are serious contenders again next season.
And that could mean Paul Pogba has to wait for a recall after his injury. Before the lockdown, United had a run of 11 games unbeaten, with eight wins. They scored 29 goals and conceded twice.
Top four, and two trophies are still within their grasp.
There were some key factors to that run of results. Scott Mctominay came back for a chunk of it, and with Nemanja Matic and Fred in there, they were solid in midfield. They had legs, energy and power.
Bruno Fernandes has been added to that mix, adding creativity and backing himself to be the man to make things happen. Now Pogba is fit again and ready to play, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has to get the balance right.
If Pogba is fit, and Fernandes is fit, ideally you’d want both to play. But I’d build him back in gradually.
Weirdly some of Man U’s best results have come from some mix-and-match formations. Players in there you might not expect.
In their last league game, Brandon Williams was at left wing-back. Wan-bissaka at right wing-back. Daniel James up front.
Sometimes certain personnel, with their mentality of being grateful to be playing for Man United, works better than a couple of superstars who think they should play in certain positions.
It is a fine balance that Ole has to find.
With Marcus Rashford and Pogba back he has a serious line-up in his grasp to go on and win these next nine games and get back in the top four. They have got themselves into a great position.
I would never worry about bringing Rashford straight in. He is fantastic. But the Pogba question needs care.
Ole has some real superstar talent and a couple of dogs in there who are prepared to do whatever it takes to play for Manchester United.
They needed that ability to say to Fernandes, ‘Go and be creative.’ Or to Anthony Martial or James, ‘We will do the work back here, you get forward.’
Sometimes you get good teams out of that. People who just do their jobs, and are good at them, get you good results.
Will Pogba come into this scenario and say: Hang on, I am the creative element. Me, and Fernandes?
Then you can get unbalanced defensively, they could be getting in each other’s way. It could create problems where you didn’t have any.
In this case Solskjaer would be
■ stupid to ignore what Fred, Mctominay and Matic have done for him this year.
When Ole was at his weakest, and Man U were at their weakest, and there was talk of when Ole would go, loads of talk, that midfield three stood up and took everything, in massive games.
They made sure their team were in games and stayed in games and got some big results.
Change the balance of that a tiny bit with a wrong ingredient and it goes again.
Unfortunately, as good a player as he is, Pogba might just not fit with the work ethic in that midfield.
Pogba is the best midfielder they have got but Ole owes his other midfielders.
They deserve to start games until they are not good enough. Then bring Pogba in. He has been out all season and this team has done well to claw back to the position they are in.
BRUNO FERNANDES is better than I thought he was.
I am always sceptical of players coming in from Portugal because the style is so different and it takes time to adapt from a quite passive league.
Fernandes has come to the Premier League and made it look easier than where he was.
He has walked into Man U and looked around the dressing room and thought: I am the main man here. I am taking free-kicks, I’m going to make the passes.
That mentality will make him a big player at United for a long time.
MANCHESTER UNITED boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says “one rotten apple” could wreck all his good work at the club.
Solskjaer was proud to wear the red shirt under Sir Alex Ferguson and wants players with the same values.
“I was professional and did feel privileged to play for Manchester United,” he said.
“I wouldn’t be able to look at myself if I didn’t give everything for my team-mates and my manager.
“That’s what I now look for in players that we sign or we bring up from the youth team – because one rotten apple in the basket will make the others rotten.
“So for me it’s about building a team that will reflect me and my coaching staff’s views.”
Solskjaer has a list of possible summer transfer targets and Ajax’s Donny van de Beek, 23, is on it.
But Ajax chief executive Edwin van der Sar, a former United keeper, says Solskjaer will not get the Holland midfielder on the cheap because of the coronavirus crisis.
Ajax have told Van de Beek he can go this summer but Van der Sar said: “Clubs like Real Madrid and United are showing interest.
‘‘But there won’t be a 50 per cent discount. The clubs can forget about that.”