Inspirational Ronaldo puts United back on the front foot at Spurs
THE United coach’s engine was still running and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had not got as far as the tunnel when a handful of Tottenham supporters heckled him with a rendition of ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning.’
Not on Sunday morning. Tottenham are no longer a scalp worth bagging but this was an uplifting evening of tactical innovation as well as individual and collective brilliance. United looked united again. Solskjaer promised ‘you’ll see the spirit of the players’ in his pre-match chat and they backed that up.
In a perilous period where results have to take priority over performances,
United got both in their standout display of the campaign.
They had the good fortune to encounter the Tottenham of Sir Alex Ferguson’s most famous and succinct team talk.
Spurs have a coach far more unpopular than Solskjaer and Nuno Espirito Santo can never lose the dressing room as he cannot win it over.
Spurs play as reluctantly as the club was to appoint Nuno, once Solskjaer’s bete noire, and the interval was soundtracked to boos.
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” the Tottenham fans hollered in disbelief at Lucas Moura’s substitution. “We want Levy out,” they chanted after Marcus Rashford made it 3-0.
Rashford replaced Cristiano Ronaldo and it beggars belief anyone could seriously pinpoint him as the source of United’s problems.
He is now responsible for their last three winning goals.
United certainly had more of an edge with Edinson Cavani flanking Ronaldo in a partnership with a combined age of 80. Neither of the February-born forwards show any sign of fading and both struck clinically.
Ronaldo’s volley – executed from an acute angle with the ball dropping into the shadow of Ben Davies – was a throwback to Marco van Basten’s immortal finish.
For a supposed individualist, Ronaldo’s craft to play in Cavani was as superb as the Uruguayan’s expert run to beat the offside trap.
The United supporters took 58 minutes to serenade the manager with the ‘You are my Solskjaer’ chant he earned as a player and that is how they would rather remember him. ‘Who put the ball in the Germans’ net’ also got an airing.
‘Ole’s at the wheel’ was unlikely to make the matchday playlist on the awaydayers’ debut at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but it felt that good the game ended with it echoing around the arena.
By and large, the United fans supported Solskjaer without outright endorsing him as a manager.
There was no chance of a sparse away end at full-time as there was at Leicester a fortnight earlier.
It was not a coincidence Solskjaer spent more time in the technical area than any of his backroom staff.
Like United, he was back on the front foot.
Solskjaer’s breakthrough as United manager was the defeat of Tottenham – and, more significantly, Mauricio Pochettino – at Wembley in his sixth match as caretaker with a split-striker tactic and there was more acumen at Spurs’ permanent home.
For the first time in 19 months, United accommodated a back three in the Premier League and the final score was even better.
Raphael Varane was warmer with gloves on and never caught cold. When
Ronaldo’s volley was a throwback to Marco van Basten’s immortal finish Samuel Luckhurst
Victor Lindelof nervously headed the ball into touch, Varane applauded encouragingly and it is unlikely Liverpool would have run amok as riotously had Varane been available.
Lindelof and Maguire have both previously thrived in a defensive trident and Maguire strode into opposition territory as purposefully as he did with England during the last World Cup.
More was demanded of Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw as wing-backs and the former especially rose to the challenge.
Shaw switched off against Liverpool and was more switched on, heading for the bench after the second and third goals. Maguire did for the second and then cut loose once Rashford confirmed the points. The withdrawn role of Bruno Fernandes paid dividends through his visionary pass that Ronaldo lashed in.
This was the 14th time Solskjaer opted for a back three and in that risked an admission of defeat.
The formation is synonymous with United’s transitional first season under Solskjaer’s stewardship when it was used six times against Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea.
United’s Champions League group stage last year was bookended by the setup, when they went from the sublime to the ridiculous against Paris Saint-Germain (a 2-1 win) and RB Leipzig (2-0 down after 13 minutes).
Their opponents on Tuesday, Atalanta, operate in a back three and it is bound to be present for the Old Trafford derby next week.
That Solskjaer was compelled to initiate his own attempted lockdown following the humiliation by Liverpool was understandable and United recorded their second clean sheet in the last 22 games.
It is also a means to an end. The system is more suitable for the unwanted and unused Donny van de Beek than the £72.9million Jadon Sancho, who also stayed on the bench.
Having placed the emphasis on longtermism under Solskjaer, he is now favouring short-termism.
It has spared him a morning sacking.