Decision over strikers under starter’s orders
LUKAKU AND SANCHEZ MAY SIT SPURS OUT AS SOLSKJAER PUTS FAITH IN MOBILE FRONT THREE
IT was a puffed-up question that elicited an inevitable response from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: Would he consider starting Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez against Tottenham at Wembley?
“Everyone’s considered and it’s down to what tactics we decide,” Solskjaer replied after the poor win over Reading last weekend.
“Who does well, who’s fit when they come to Sunday and they are now getting the fitness work in.
“I know they’re quality players. Rom’s scored three in three now, two as a sub and one as a starter. It was a fantastic goal constructed by the two of them.”
Solskjaer needs to butter up players who felt scorned by his predecessor and goals are flowing for Lukaku.
Solskjaer was such a clinical finisher he lived by the mantra ‘There is no such thing as a great save, just a bad finish’ and Lukaku has, for now, stopped finishing badly.
It might not be enough to earn a reprieve at Tottenham, where Solskjaer could conceivably field the same XI he began his reign with at Cardiff – De Gea, Young, Jones, Lindelof, Shaw, Matic, Herrera, Pogba, Lingard, Martial and Rashford.
Rashford or Lukaku is no contest, despite the latter’s goalscoring return, and Martial or Sanchez has not been debatable since September.
Right-back is the one questionable area – Diogo Dalot and Antonio Valencia have failed to vindicate their recalls under Solskjaer and Young is maybe the most suitable choice.
Solskjaer’s post-match rhetoric at the weekend had a touch of his mentor’s mischievousness. Sir Alex Ferguson was talking Solskjaer’s former team-mate Louis Saha up weeks before he off-loaded him to Everton in 2008 and often inflated a player’s ego during a tete-a-tete only to deflate them by providing the dreaded news that they were dropped. Mourinho was transparent with his injury and team news to the point he ribbed this correspondent about certain team leaks. Solskjaer, you already sense, is as guarded as Ferguson, who banned two journalists in 2012 for correctly reporting Rio Ferdinand would be unavailable for the season opener at Everton. An incandescent Phil Neville also accosted journalists in the Villa Park mixed zone five years ago, demanding to know how David Moyes’s XIs were emerging hours before kick-off. The leaks have stopped under Solskjaer but there is a welcome air of predictability about what United’s team could be on Sunday. The mindset has shifted from what Tottenham can do to United to what United can do to Tottenham. If Mourinho were still in his position,
Solskjaer could field the same XI against Spurs that started the win over Cardiff Samuel Luckhurst
the preview pieces would be about how the Reds might smother Spurs or tweak their formation, having switched to a back three for the reverse fixture in August. Anything but a 4-3-3 set-up this weekend would be a jolt.
It is partly enforced through Eric Bailly’s suspension, Chris Smalling’s injury and the unconvincing synergy Lukaku, Sanchez, Fred and Juan Mata have had with teammates. Interchanging is essential against Spurs and the lumbering Lukaku and mercurial Mata would not enhance a triumvirate at the expense of Martial, Lingard or Rashford.
Ander Herrera’s predilection for a more attack-minded approach is offset by the defensive instincts he learnt under Mourinho and they will be needed against a team who have scored 23 goals in their past six fixtures. With Tottenham tallying fives, sixes and sevens, Solskjaer is wary of them.
“There will be loads of things we need to look at,” Solskjaer said. “You’ve got Kane, one of the best strikers in the world, Eriksen, one of the best playmakers, you’ve got Son, Alli. And we have to look at the team unit and how we play against them.”
Solskjaer is in danger of reneging on his pledge that ‘it’s not about the opposition and ‘it’s about our players knowing what they can do.’
Spurs are an exception, though, so not everyone can be considered.