United regulars expected to be Champ-ing at the bit
and failure at Cardiff doesn’t mean you’re not up to the task of managing United.
The task in front of him is clear when you consider the two managers in front of him in the table, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, are proven winners.
United’s antidote to that, having seen the Jose Mourinho era selfcombust, has been to appoint a club legend who wouldn’t have been shortlisted for the job without having United on his playing CV.
But gradually Solskjaer is beginning to suggest he might just be up to the task. Whatever happens next he has done some valuable work in signing key players, progressing academy talents and resetting a United DNA that had been lost over the last six years.
Key players such as Anthony Martial should expect even more gametime next season
Champions League qualification is where the hard work starts, though. This is the opportunity United needed, a £70million boost to the coffers, a return to Europe’s elite and a chance to significantly close that gap on Liverpool and City.
Solskjaer has fulfilled his end of the bargain, now it’s time for United’s owners and Ed Woodward to do their bit.
This is a squad that has potential, but also needs more investment if a challenge is to be mounted at the top of the table. Having finished third United cannot regress from here.
Breaking up the hegemony of their biggest rivals at the top may be too much to ask next season, but they must get closer at least to prove this is a side on their way back.
UNITED’S regular starters will be subjected to more playing time next season now the club is back in the Champions League.
United limited their absence from the competition to just a season with a final day victory over Leicester to secure a third-place finish in the Premier League, having ended sixth last term.
United will be drawn with a top seed in the Champions League group stage and Solskjaer is already planning for a more gruelling campaign amid intense domestic and European competition.
“First of all, the season next season with Champions League instead of Europa League will be different because we want to move up the league table. We can’t take our eye off the league and rest
■ NO SELECTION DILEMMAS
THERE was never going to be a surprise when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer submitted the United teamsheet at the King Power Stadium an hour and a quarter before kick-off on the biggest day of his season.
The only issue was the fitness of Luke Shaw at left-back. Beyond that this has become a team that picks itself with ease, it’s a first XI that rolls off the tongue at the moment.
Yet that strength has become a weakness in recent weeks. United have stumbled over the line having looked so slick in the first few weeks after the season restarted.
For five successive Premier League games Solskjaer felt unable to make a change and while the wins kept coming it wasn’t too much a concern, but the gamble went a step too far in the draw with Southampton and since then United have been on the back foot, running on fumes and desperately clutching for the finishing line.
They’ve managed to get there, but the tiredness this team have shown in recent weeks has to act as a warning to Solskjaer. He needs better and more reliable back-up options, because the same starting XI cannot be pushed into action every week again next season.
■ FEARLESS FERNANDES
JUST before scoring the crucial penalty that secured United a return to the Champions League, Bruno Fernandes was chasing shadows in midfield. He looked exhausted as Leicester built play, barely able to muster a jog as he stared at the ground and counted down the minutes until the drinks break.
Like a lot of United’s side Fernandes has looked like he’s been feeling the pace of late. Throw in his Sporting Lisbon commitments in the first half of the season and it’s been a slog for the 25-year-old, but it was also fitting that he provided the decisive moment in United’s season.
Fernandes is always going to give the ball away, his passing stats aren’t great because he tries the audacious and it’s that creativity which has inspired United since February. Having had his worse game in a United shirt for 67 minutes at the King Power Stadium he found one perfectly weighted through ball to release players in Europa League, so there will be more demands on players; they’ll have to work hard in summer.
“We’ve got Europe, that’ll be a foundation as well. Next season will be even more testing and challenging. If you’re playing top teams in the Champions League you’ve got to get used to playing 40 or 45 or 50 games for this club every season if we are to be successful.”
Anthony Martial and then held his nerve to convert the penalty.
United are back in the Champions League thanks to a 14-game unbeaten run in the league since the end of January and that form is primarily down to Fernandes, who has completely transformed United as an attacking threat.
■ PLAY TO WIN
SOLSKJAER was unequivocal in his broadcast interviews pre-match at the King Power Stadium, telling anybody who would listen that his team were here to win and that he was going to tell his players to make sure they left nothing out there, that they could look themselves in the mirror knowing they’d done all they could when the whistle went on 2019/20.
But for most of this game it seemed that United were playing within themselves. They’ve lacked intensity for a couple of weeks now but with a season’s work on the line this required one final trip to the well, but for much of the game they were hesitant, letting Leicester set the tempo and playing the game at their pace.
United have been at their best since lockdown when they’ve imposed themselves on games, but that wasn’t the case against the Foxes. In the end it didn’t matter, but this wasn’t a United side playing to their strengths.
■ NERVOUS MOMENTS
WHEN you’ve played 37 Premier League fixtures but your fate comes down to one final game it’s inevitable there’s going to be some nerves. Take away the crowd that usually plays such a big role in these final day dramas and the adrenalin they provide and those nerves are going to be increased.
That certainly looked to be the case in a first-half at the King Power Stadium that lacked quality. Both teams had their moments but there was a lack of conviction in much of the attacking play.
United’s nerves came out defensively, which is no surprise given how shaky they’ve been at the back at times this season, while David de Gea dropped a tame shot from Kelechi Iheanacho, which could have caused problems.
United host LASK Linz in their Europa League round-of-16 second leg at Old Trafford on Wednesday week with a 5-0 aggregate advantage. They are then due to face Copenhagen or Istanbul Besaksehir in the quarter-finals on August 10.
Should United progress to the semi-finals they would play Olympiakos, Wolves, Sevilla, or Roma on August 16 and the final is on August 21.