Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
OLE’S UNITED HAVE NO IDENTITY, NO PLAN AND A RONALDO PROBLEM
@tomhopkinson MANCHESTER UNITED have no identity or tactical plan under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and have lost their focus since Cristiano Ronaldo’s return.
That’s the view of Danny Blind – the father of ex-United star Daley – who is back working as assistant coach to former Old Trafford boss Louis van Gaal with Holland.
Blind said: “What is the identity of this Manchester United team? What is his plan?
“It is exactly that what is missing with Solskjaer.
“There is not a tactical plan. His team are not able to put pressure on their opponents like Manchester City.
“It does not always have to be full pressing but we don’t see any of it – everything in the United team is based on the individual qualities of players.
“They have those qualities and it often gets a result for the team. But it is never a team result. It has not been looking good in a number of matches.
“United struggle to be dominant – that is the whole problem.”
Like Ronaldo, Blind was particularly unimpressed with the display in the 1-1 draw with Everton last weekend.
He added: “After they took the lead against Everton they started to wait for them in their own half.
“They want to score on the counter. But that is not good enough for a club like Manchester United.
“The next thing that you see is how they struggle to turn the game around when Everton equalised. They hardly created any chances.
“The results are not good. He lost against Young Boys, against West Ham in the cup, against Aston Villa and they were lucky against Villarreal because of Ronaldo’s quality.
“Against Everton, another draw.
“And they only just got away with that result.
“It has to improve and it can improve. We cannot say that Solskjaer has had a long career at top level as a manager before United.
“Yes, he was a champion in Norway. But that is a different level. I know why he gets more time than other coaches, he is a child of the club.
“He scored that legendary goal in 1999 which helped them win the Champions League. “But all that is not enough for what is being produced right now.” Ronaldo’s addition has not helped the balance of the team, according to Blind.
He said: “You are not going to change Cristiano anymore in his thinking and his approach to the game.
“So Solskjaer will have to come up with a playing style for his team where Cristiano can still flourish and the team can still put their opponent under pressure.
“Cristiano has come back and scored some important goals.
“But his presence in the team requires a different way of thinking tactically.
“Normally, you would expect that the striker is the first man to chase the defenders of the opposition.
“He will run from one defender to the other. But the team has lost its orientation. They are not in a confident structure now Ronaldo is up front.”
Despite his frustrations with United, Blind (left) would not pull the trigger on Solskjaer now. He said: “Whatever you think of Solskjaer as a manager, this is not the moment to change.
“They are not way behind in the Premier League. But they have lost more games than you would expect.”