MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
The sun goes down on Ole’s reign as Solskjaer
IN the build-up to this game Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would have been forgiven for picturing a scenario in which he’d leave Sir Elton John’s favourite stadium humming ‘I’m Still Standing’ on the back of a critic-quietening victory.
The cold reality of the situation could hardly have been more different, though, and as he trudged out of Vicarage Road last night, the
Manchester United manager will have known this defeat could well have been the one that spelled the end for him.
United were utterly dismal, especially in the first half.
And although there was the slightest improvement after the break, it really wasn’t much better.
Certainly not after Harry Maguire was sent off on 69 minutes for a second bookable offence just six minutes after his first one.
And definitely not when United fully capitulated in stoppage-time as Joao Pedro and Emmanuel Dennis added to the first-half goals from Joshua King and Ismaila Sarr.
“Nightmare after nightmare after nightmare,” said keeper David De Gea. “It was embarrassing to see Man United play like we did. It’s easy to blame the manager or the staff, but sometimes it’s the players. We need to show much more than we are doing.
“Embarrassing first half – we could have conceded four goals in 45 minutes.
“We have to keep working hard and stick together. We always say the same things but it’s the truth – we have to look at ourselves and see where we can improve.
“I’ve been in difficult moments and always believe in myself but we are paid to play for United and to do better than that.”
Nobody who witnessed it will have disagreed.
Watford and Claudio Ranieri deserve massive credit, of course, because the Hornets were as exceptional as United were appalling.
But the performance United turned in was unacceptable for a club of their stature. If the Leicester, Liverpool and
Manchester City defeats were bad, this was simply embarrassing.
There has been a hope amongst the United hierarchy that they might be able to wait until the summer to make any change, but pulling the trigger on Solskjaer now looks completely inevitable.
Certainly, there were groups of United fans here who made clear when Solskjaer went to avoid the travelling supporters at the end that they want him gone. They hurled abuse his way and motioned for him to get out of the club. And when Bruno Fernandes, as guilty as anyone in a United shirt of turning in a turgid display, gestured back at them in defence of his boss, he copped an earful as well.
Watford fans gleefully sang ‘Ole’s at the wheel, at the wheel…’ in both halves. They suggested he’d be ‘sacked in the morning’ for good measure.
Solskjaer is a likeable man and it was hard not to feel sympathy for him as he cut a lonely figure in the dugout.
But he is man enough to know the way of the world, and his team was a group of individuals no longer playing for their manager.