Ole has to lift United up yet another level
SOLSKJAER’S THIRD SEASON COULD BE MOST DIFFICULT YET
IN the next two months Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will become the longestserving United manager, in terms of games, since the reign of Sir Alex Ferguson ended in 2013.
If all goes according to plan for the Reds, the Norwegian will mark 150 games in charge in Gdansk at the end of May, when he will hope the Europa League can provide a first trophy and a springboard to further success.
Jose Mourinho’s mark of 144 games will be passed before then, but Solskjaer’s milestone is no guarantee United have finally found the winning formula as they look to move on from Ferguson’s imposing shadow.
That was the feeling when Mourinho won two trophies in his first season and helped United finish runners-up in the Premier League in his second, but as the Portuguese found, turning progress into something more substantial can be the hardest task of all.
That’s partly a Mourinho speciality, a third season stumbling block that has divorce lawyers inking their pens when he reaches that stage of a journey with a club, but it can be a crucial season for any manager.
Progress has certainly been the word of the month for United. A disappointing FA Cup quarter-final exit at Leicester City before the international break was a bitter blow, on the back of four semi-final defeats in knockout football since January 2020, but at the moment this is a club defining themselves by big picture thinking.
That mindset can only last for so long, especially at a club the size of United. At some point, the final brush strokes must be applied and a masterpiece unveiled.
If United can secure second place this season and maintain their 12-point improvement on last season’s efforts, then it will certainly signify a step in the right direction.
The Europa League would be a significant positive as well, banishing the demons of those cup defeats. But when you finish second, there is only one more step to climb and it can often be the hardest of them all. Mourinho’s third season got off to the worst possible start, with a tour of the United States where little went right. It was a summer categorised by disagreements of transfer policy and, after a poor start, it never recovered.
By December, Mourinho was gone.
Next season will be the start of Solskjaer’s third full campaign and this could be a crucial summer as well.
Like Mourinho, the Norwegian might not get everything he wants in the transfer window, although this time it will be due to pandemicenforced budget restrictions rather than any lack of harmony from manager and board. What money there is to spend will
When you finish second, there is only one more step to climb, and it can often be the hardest of them all
need to be invested wisely. Right now it looks like United have a couple of holes that need to be filled, but they may need to be creative in trying to close the gap to City.
The end of this season will mark the eighth successive year without a title for United and, in truth, the eighth year without a meaningful title challenge.
They might not win it next season, but they must be in the conversation for longer. United are on for 74 or 75 points this season, on their current points per game record.
That will be the second-best return in those eight years since Ferguson’s retirement, but next season will probably require another 15-point improvement just to challenge at the top.
Progress cannot begin to stall or go into reverse.
Plenty of comparisons have been made between the time Jurgen Klopp got to turn Liverpool into challengers and Solskjaer’s own progress at Old Trafford. Klopp’s first two full seasons produced points returns of 76 and 75, but his third campaign took them to 97 points and Champions League winners.
So often that third season can be make-or-break. Solskjaer might not be able to repeat Klopp’s improvement at Liverpool, which came partly through the additions of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, but he must take another major step forward next season to avoid the pitfalls which have so regularly affected his predecessor.