Ole has earned board support in Reds rebuild
THE longest football season in memory has been conducted in stages and while United’s campaign hasn’t exactly followed the same pattern, it is a season that has felt like several different storylines have played out over the previous 11 months.
The most unlikely final chapter for most of this season would have been United finishing third in the Premier League, the best of the rest behind the teams who were considered a near certainty to fill the top two spots before the campaign began.
Yet thanks to a final-day victory at
Leicester City and a late burst of form that is exactly what has happened. United have had good fortune to be competing against teams such as their opponents on Sunday and Chelsea, who also have a streak of vulnerability coursing through them, but the end result can only be applauded after a season that could have unravelled on more than one occasion.
When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had won five of his last 24 games as United manager in October he must have feared the end was nigh. The pressure was back after successive draws against Sheffield United and Aston Villa at the end of November and start of December, and then when Burnley eased to the most unexpectedly comfortable of wins at Old Trafford on January 22 this looked like a season and a tenure that was going nowhere.
But from the wreckage of that rotten night a season has been salvaged. United, somehow, haven’t lost in 14 Premier League games since. Tell that to Old Trafford regulars as they left the ground after the defeat to Burnley and they’d have laughed. At that stage United were 14 points behind Leicester and six behind Chelsea, but have ended up finishing above both.
For that huge credit has to go to Solskjaer, who never wavered in his own beliefs about how his team should play and the type of characters he wants at the club. It may be that the initial £47million United spent on Bruno Fernandes in January has saved the Norwegian’s job, because without him they wouldn’t have gatecrashed the top four, but Solskjaer has also managed to transform a team inside a season.
From a side lacking creativity and inspiration, United have shown glimpses of returning to their best in the second half of this season, especially in that spell after the season restarted when four successive wins arrived by an aggregate score of 14-2.
In Fernandes, Paul Pogba (for now), Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial he has a front five who can challenge for titles, with the potential for Jadon Sancho to also be thrown into the mix.
The way that charge towards the top four become more of a stutter is cause for concern, but Solskjaer has done more than enough to be trusted with a war chest to complete his rebuild of this squad. Solskjaer’s background is the reason why the jury remains out on him. He only got the job on a temporary basis because of who he is, and he only got the job permanently because of a brilliant, but unsustainable start. Ever since he’s been trying to prove that a CV that contains success at Molde
Huge credit must go to Solskjaer, who never wavered in his own beliefs about how his team should play
Tyrone Marshall