Solskjaer must be bold to prosper against ‘Big Six’
➤ Playing not to lose may get United so far, but a team with ambition to rival peerless City have to take more risks
The indictment against Manchester United has to be that the moment they went top of the Premier League, on Jan 12 with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Burnley, their title challenge ended. No one at the club expected them to be in that position and there was never a belief they would remain there.
They have since won three of their 10 league matches and although only one was lost, the six draws have meant a return of just 15 points. Those draws included goalless matches against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea and, going into tomorrow’s Manchester derby, it is United’s record against the other “Big Six” clubs that has to be particularly troubling.
United have claimed just five points – and no wins – from seven Big-six encounters this season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can argue that they have lost only two of those games and kept clean sheets in five, but against that is further negative evidence: only one goal scored – in the 6-1 home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, which appears to have scarred them. United are bottom of the Big-six mini-table.
Despite their rich forward options, United are not the most attacking team at the best of times under Solskjaer, and that heavy defeat by Jose Mourinho’s Spurs may well have infected their approach to other big fixtures.
They have gone into them, it appears, with a determination not to lose rather than a desire to win.
It was very different last season in terms of results, with United gaining a hugely impressive 18 points from their 10 games against the others in the Big Six.
At that time, they were probably the underdogs against Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs and, while trying to stay in contention and work their way back from being out of the picture for years, Solskjaer had a reasonable excuse if United underperformed.
It can be claimed justifiably that Solskjaer has done a decent job. But is that good enough? The fact is that even his staunchest supporters do not really know how good a manager he is, or even what kind of manager he is. There is no discernible pattern of play, philosophy or style.
In saying that, the key quote from executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, on the release of United’s latest financial results this week, that “the progress made by Ole and the players this season is clear” is a public endorsement of what is privately known: Solskjaer is going nowhere. He will remain the manager.
It would be interesting to hear what United define as progress. They will look at second place, but they finished 15 points behind champions Chelsea in 2014 and are 15 points behind City now. In the intervening years, they have never finished closer than 12 points to the top. Is the ambition just to be in the top four or to be winners again?
Even that status, though, is far from secure. Nine points separate them from Spurs in eighth place, but Mourinho’s side have a game in hand and it remains bunched around them.
The suspicion remains that Solskjaer’s United are an expensively assembled team capable of some big moments. But big moments require the contribution of big players and right now they are not doing it in big matches.
In the absence of Paul Pogba, whose injury was particularly illtimed as he was finally proving consistently to be the positive influence he can be, it falls on Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford to provide the star quality to secure the big results. If you stop them, however, it appears you stop United.
Fernandes lost the ball 20 times in last weekend’s draw at Chelsea, more than any other player on the pitch, and he looks tired, which is no surprise given he is not only the creator, but he sets the “press” when it comes to United closing down the opposition.
Fernandes’s goals record against the Big Six is 0.22 per game – with both his goals coming against Spurs – down from an average of 0.74 per cent against the rest, although he did score a superb free-kick against Liverpool in the FA Cup win.
It would suggest United need to be more positive to get the best out of Fernandes in bigger games.
Rashford, meanwhile, has come in for harsh criticism, but it has emerged that the forward is playing with a shoulder injury suffered against Arsenal last November that might need surgery after the European Championship. Again, it suggests that others need to step up.
One thing is for sure: something has to give tomorrow; either City’s run of 21 wins in a row or United’s record of 21 unbeaten league games away from home.