Solskjaer’s shoogly peg, Salah scales new heights and Other talking points from the weekend in England
Gunnar down
The hashtag #OleIn was trending again on Twitter on Saturday night as rival fans of Manchester United celebrated the once-dominant English giants’ latest lame performance in the 4-2 defeat at Leicester.
It’s now three Premier League games since United’s last victory and even that 2-1 win had an asterisk beside it with West Ham missing an injury-time penalty to gift Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side the three points. Either side of that dramatic escape act at the London Stadium, they were embarrassed by Young Boys in the Champions League and lost in the Carabao Cup to the same West Ham team they had beaten a handful of days earlier in the league.
The same negative descriptions of the players have accompanied each of those results and tend to include a combination of the following: “lacking a plan”, “clueless” and “half-hearted”.
Certainly, the lack of any press was telling in the defeat by Leicester in which United looked off the pace in attack and ponderous at the back. There have been conflicting reports since their most recent humbling with some saying
Solskjaer is not going anywhere and others claiming that a defeat against reinvigorated Liverpool will finally persuade the Glazers to act.
Back in the day, United had the best manager in the league in Sir Alex Ferguson and the best chief executive in David Gill but not now. The muddled thinking between boardroom and manager can be felt most keenly on transfer strategy. As much as Cristiano Ronaldo was an exciting, headline signing, it felt as if it was a convenient exercise in setting fire to the curtains in the aftermath of the failed European Super League experiment. For example, where was the holding midfielder? United did not need goals – they scored the second most in the league last season yet they also conceded the most of any team in the top four.
Salah days
The player who could hold Solskjaer’s fate in his hands is Mo Salah with United set to host Liverpool next weekend. The Egyptian has been operating at the height of his powers since the start of the season and was at it again on Saturday in the 5-0 win over Watford with a glorious assist for Sadio Mane’s opener, then a trademark mesmerising shuffle of his feet for a goal that was reminiscent of his strike against Manchester City just before the international break. It prompted questions over his status in the pecking order of world football.
Salah has been operating at the height of his powers since the start of the season
“Come on, who is better than him?” asked his manager Jurgen Klopp. “We don’t have to talk about what Messi and Ronaldo have done for world football and their dominance but, right now, he is the best.”
The German’s question feeds into a wider one about succession and who is likely to follow Ronaldo and Messi. Right now, anything else compared to their stratospheric feats feels as if it is a pale imitation but it’s hard to argue against Salah being on the list of contenders.
Ranieri on your parade
Speaking of Liverpool’s thumping of Watford brings us to Claudio Ranieri. The 69-year-old provokes dewyeyed recollections among
English football experts and commentators alike for his miracle act at Leicester in 2016. It’s clearly a feat still remembered by Gino Pozzo, the Italian who owns Watford and appointed Ranieri prior to the international break, after sacking Xisco Munoz.
There is no need to decry Ranieri’s achievements five years ago but they should also be viewed in the context of what he did next: his appointment at Fulham, who were in a similar predicament to Watford in November 2018, is a case in point. Ranieri presided over just three wins in 17 matches at Craven Cottage and was replaced in February 2019. Yes, this was his first game in charge but don’t be surprised if something similar plays out at Vicarage Road in the coming months.
Dead-ball delusion
Life comes at you fast when you are a set-piece coach. One minute you are having your back slapped and voluminous hair ruffled for your role in orchestrating the winning goal for Scotland against Israel in a crucial World Cup qualifier and the next you are looking on in horror as Aston Villa throw away a two-goal lead against Wolves – all from setpieces – to lose 3-2.
Let’s put our Tartan bunnets on here for a second and conclude that Austin MacPhee, the Villa and Scotland setpiece guru, is only responsible for free-kicks and corners in his side’s favour.
Masters of none
Let’s ignore for a minute the human rights abuses, the murder of a journalist critical of the regime, the persecution of the LGBTQ community and the multitude of other reasons why the Saudi Arabian-backed takeover of Newcastle United leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Richard Masters, the chief executive of the Premier League, has still to make a statement on the Public Investment Fund’s £300- million purchase of the club. In April, Masters was one of the first in line to condemn the six rogue clubs who were part of the bid to form the European Super League saying: “This venture cannot be launched without English clubs and we call upon any club contemplating associating themselves or joining this venture to walk away immediately before irreparable damage is done”.
He was referring, of course, to the carve-up taking place in front of his eyes. The kind of carve-up that Newcastle can now help themselves to by dint of their vast financial backing by PIF.
The irony of those last words are no doubt why it is taking Masters so long to compose his statement on Newcastle – who lost to Tottenham yesterday in their first match since the takeover was concluded. He knows irreparable damage has already been done.