I winced when I read what Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said about a returning Marcus Rashford:

“Marcus has done some remarkable and fantastic things,”

“But now he maybe needs to prioritise his football.”

Via BBC Sport

In that moment the Manchester United manager turned into every troll in the country that had used that very same stick to beat the England striker with in the last twenty or so months. It showed a distinct lack of leadership, in my eyes. Basically Ole threw Rasford under the bus.

What made the statement even more galling was the fact that in Ashford’s absence United weren’t firing on all cylinders.

They hadn’t won in their last three Premier League games and they’d been put out of the League Cup.

The team lacked any real momentum and the manager just can’t seem to consistently get the best out of his expensively assembled squad.

Today against fierce rivals Liverpool, Man United capitulated and lost 5-0 at home (Sky Sports).

As a team they couldn’t press, they could not make a tackle and were passed off the park with ease. There was absolutely no passion from Ole’s Red Devils. They didn’t seem to recognise each other and looked disorganised, those mistakes have to be put at the manager’s door.

The defeat leaves United in seventh spot and already eight points off top spot.

Defensively United were again a shambles. Harry Maguire is still clearly not fit enough and certainly doesn’t look like an £80m defender. Victor Lindelof was rusty and was easily brushed aside by the opposition. Luke Shaw was once again looking like he was playing with Jose Mourinho in his ear!

Too many on the Old Trafford pitch made individual error after individual error.

Time and again Fred has proven himself incapable of protecting his back four. The Brazilian is a decent squad player at best but he shouldn’t be a regular starter for a team that have ambitions to win major honours. While United made some decent signings in the summer, not bringing in an established ball winning central midfielder is a costly mistake that they are still paying dearly for.

I’m a big fan of Paul Pogba but too many times he makes rash decisions and they end up costing his team. That happened again today. The midfielder needs to really display the world class form he seems to exert whilst playing for Les Bleus.

When Man Utd did break forward, too many times they simply aimed at getting the ball to Cristiano Ronaldo and hope he’d provide some magic. They can’t expect miracles from a man in his mid-thirties no matter how good he is. The team have to create more as a team and not just for one player.

Some serious questions will now be asked of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The media have stated recently that the United board back the Norwegian (Source Manchester Evening News) but will that remain the case after today’s monumental defeat?

Have things really improved under Solskjaer?

With the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Antonio Conte currently out of a job, I have no doubts some in the Manchester United hierarchy will be checking on some CVs.

This could really be a defining point for Ole Gunnar at Old Trafford. He needs to get everyone back on board and aiming to get things back on track. The defence needs to be stronger, the midfield needs to work harder and the forward need to blow away the opposition.

If that can’t happen, then they pressure could become too hot for the man currently sitting in the managerial hot-seat.

Posted on October 24th, 2021 by scott
Filed under: Article