Ferdinand calls for Solskjaer to ‘hand over baton’
➤ Former United team-mate can see no direction tactically ➤ Board makes no plan to sack Norwegian despite poor run
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer headed to Norway yesterday for a short break with his family as Rio Ferdinand called for the Manchester United manager to “hand over the baton” and leave Old Trafford.
Solskjaer has had dialogue with the Old Trafford hierarchy in the wake of Saturday’s humiliating 2-0 defeat at home by Manchester City but has been given no indication he is set for the sack, despite his increasingly perilous position.
But Ferdinand – until now a staunch supporter of his former United team-mate – believes Solskjaer has taken the club as far as he can and that the appointment of a manager who can invoke “fear” in the players is required after the City debacle and 5-0 capitulation at home to Liverpool.
“I don’t think we can challenge for this league,” Ferdinand said on his “Five with Vibe” podcast. “I look at our team wondering what are we going to do tactically? I don’t see any philosophy or identity in the
Man United way of playing. I sit here looking confused at the team.
“I was always deep down a bit sceptical; could he take us on to be champions? I wasn’t fully convinced. But I just feel it might be about the time now for the baton to be handed over to somebody else who can take us on.
“And I think Ole would leave now with his head held high because from when he came in to where he got us at the beginning of the season, I think it’s been positive.”
United have been left reeling by the team’s collapse, having expected Solskjaer to mount a sustained challenge for the Premier League title, and faith in the manager is being tested like never before.
The loss to City, which came only a fortnight after the battering by Liverpool – when the team were also booed off – was United’s sixth defeat in their past 12 matches and has left the club unsure which way to turn as they survey their limited options during the international break.
Sources have expressed concern that Solskjaer could be rendered a “lame duck” and that the club’s hopes of getting through the season with the Norwegian would not withstand more bad results, particularly with trust in the manager’s methods having largely eroded in the dressing room.
Insiders have also suggested the absence of viable and available replacements are another complicating factor.
Solskjaer has told friends he remains confident he can stop the rot and expects to take charge against Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday week, even if United have stopped short of confirming as much despite indicating there has been no change in their stance.
United then face Villarreal in the Champions League, when victory would seal their passage to the knockout stage, before crunch Premier League games against leaders Chelsea and a rejuvenated Arsenal.
Solskjaer was pictured at Manchester Airport’s Signature Private Jet Terminal yesterday afternoon ahead of a flight home to Kristiansund in his native Norway with his wife and two sons. It is not uncommon for him to return home for a few days to recharge his batteries at the start of international breaks. He did the same in September and last month.
Ferdinand expressed concern that United’s players did not fear Solskjaer.
“When I watch our team and sit there and feel the players aren’t in fear – the intensity’s not right, players aren’t sprinting out and hurting themselves sometimes in games – I see that as disrespect to the manager and almost like, ‘I don’t fear [him]’,” he said.
“Every great manager who has been successful or won things in this game, they have an element of fear. There’s an element of, ‘If you don’t do what I say, you don’t follow the rules… you are getting back here and sitting... on the bench and watching’. I don’t see that fear in this squad. That can’t be right.”
Meanwhile, Paul Pogba – who is due to complete a three-game suspension for his red card against Liverpool in the match at Watford – withdrew from the France squad yesterday with a thigh injury.