Unpopular opinion – United needed these defeats
Seven defeats in their previous 10 matches is form no manager, player or fan would welcome, but Soccer Laduma’s Kurt Buckerfield explains why he feels positives can be taken out of this dark time…
“Solskjaer won nine matches in his first 10 games as interim boss when he arrived in December, and suddenly, those who didn’t look good enough under Mourinho now looked like stars. Anthony Martial was taking on his man with confidence again, Marcus Rashford was finding the net regularly, the previously shy Luke Shaw was running with his chest puffed out and Paul Pogba looked like the best midfielder in world football. The form United showed right up until that second leg round of 16 tie in Europe against PSG had many, including me, believing the team didn’t need too many reinforcements. Perhaps just a few! A right-back, a centre-back and a central midfielder. It seemed like Solskjaer had loosened the shackles, reinstalled belief, and channeled the famous soul and spirit of Manchester United, the United he represented as a player, but there is quite clearly loads of work needed. Certain players in the squad are not of the standard required for United to be challenging the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool for the Premier League title, but how is the current problem remedied? It’s easy to suggest appointing a Director of Football needs to happen. It’s easy to suggest the board needs to allow Solskjaer the chance to build his own team, but a squad overhaul of more than six, seven, eight players is unrealistic. As it is unrealistic to expect the club to spend
300 million (R4.8 billion) on signings in one window. It should be back to the drawing board! I’m telling you, if United continued that rampant form all the way until the end of the season, the potential for the 2019/20 campaign being a disastrous one would’ve been high. Solskjaer and his technical team might not have focused the required attention on personnel, which right now appears the biggest issue. Big changes are needed, and it’s thanks to this poor form we can see that. You sometimes need to hit rock bottom before rising like the phoenix from the ashes.”