It’s looking Ole over for humiliated boss
AFTER Manchester United’s 5-0 humbling at the hands of Liverpool it was said that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had three games to save his job.
If that was indeed the case, then it is difficult to see the Norwegian hanging on after yet another Old Trafford embarrassment.
United weren’t just beaten 2-0 by Manchester City here, they were picked apart, humiliated and – most crucially – reminded once again of the chasm separating them from the true elite.
And that should be enough reason for a manager who has had no shortage of backing in the transfer market, or opportunities to prove his worth, to be moved on.
Solskjaer may have kicked off this crucial period with a win at Tottenham, but familiar problems then returned at Atalanta – only Cristiano Ronaldo’s brilliance saved a point.
But even he could not make up for United’s failings here, in a game that highlighted the possible folly of his acquisition.
Going into this derby, Solskjaer had won four and lost just one of his eight meetings with Pep Guardiola thanks to an approach that prioritised defensive solidity and saw them attack on the break.
However, Ronaldo’s unsuitability to the role of link man meant United could barely get up the pitch this time, while
Jadon Sancho was not considered worthy of bringing muchneeded pace to the starting line-up with
Marcus Rashford only fit enough for the bench.
What’s more, a back five that cost over £200million to assemble never looked likely to frustrate City sufficiently to tempt them into leaving space on the break, with
Eric Bailly instead scoring in his own net before David de Gea (below)and Luke Shaw combined disastrously for the second goal.
The continued failures of such an expensively assembled squad only enhance the feeling that Solskjaer is blindly grasping for a winning formula rather than working to some grand masterplan.
Contrast that with Guardiola, who will delight in having used this particular game to silence any doubts that surfaced after recent defeats to West Ham (on penalties) and Crystal Palace.
It is easy to see why the Spaniard was not too spooked by the latter result, even if others believed it brought into question his side’s title credentials.
Of course, Guardiola (below) will be aware that there are questions he needs to answer if his team is to win silverware this season.
Still, you would back him to solve any particular puzzle in the aftermath of a dominant derby display that offered a reminder of all that is good about him and his City team.
The same cannot be said for Solskjaer, who looks incapable of finding solutions to a mess he has partly created over the course of what was billed as a do-or-die period.
Solskjaer’s only hope now is that the Old Trafford
hierarchy once again fail to
notice.