Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said recently that he wanted to see how his Man United side would react if they went a goal down. I’m not sure it was part of the plan to go two down against Burnley, but it was a brilliant sign that his players were determined to get a point, and it showed a real shift in their attitude from under Jose Mourinho.
It’s not Ole’s best result as manager – the fact of the matter is you still shouldn’t be going two goals down at home to Burnley – but it was good to see the fighting spirit back.
I’m not sure why he keeps changing the team, though. There needs to be consistency in the side, amd when they’re playing so well at the minute, I’m not sure what the need is to keep mess with the line-up. The decision he made to start Andreas Pereira was bizarre, and then he ended up being at fault for a goal. There needs to be some consistency.
Don’t get ahead of yourself with Solskjaer
People are getting ahead of themselves in suggesting that Solskjaer should be made permanent manager. The game against Burnley, despite coming back into it, proved that the team aren’t there yet. I’m not saying he’s not done well, he’s been fantastic, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready for the job yet.
You’ve got to be careful. Whoever takes the job on a permanent basis must be the right man.
It’s getting embarrassing, United have been through David Moyes, Louis Van Gaal and then fans were convinced Mourinho was the right man, and it’s quite clear he wasn’t.
United wasted time with Mourinho, they won a couple of trophies but ultimately, he took them back another step.
What the club can’t do is give it to Solskjaer for a year, realise he wasn’t what they thought, and end up sacking another manager – I can see that happening.
Whoever is the next manager, whether that’s him or Mauricio Pochettino, needs to be there for the long haul.
If we get to the end of the season and he’s got fourth place, won some silverware and progressed far in the Champions League, then he can be considered. But not right now.
Solskjaer doesn’t have the presence for the job
It’s far too early to give him a job of this magnitude yet. You’re talking about someone who has been managing at Molde – no disrespect to Ole.
Are United not looking for someone with more presence? If things start going pear-shaped, has he got the presence to deal with it? The experience and the CV to manage players like Paul Pogba?
After Mourinho left, there were no expectations to follow. No one really thought United would make the top four or be in with a chance of winning anything. At the minute, the pressure is totally off Solskjaer and his players, the expectation is not as high as it should be or usually is for a United team. But it will be again, come the start of next season.
It winds me up when people suggest that Pochettino isn’t the right man for the job just because he hasn’t won anything. It’s mental. He’s done more with that Tottenham side than other clubs have done with triple the budget!
If you’re basing it off trophies, Solskjaer hasn’t won anything.
Does that mean he should be ruled out, too? It’s a stupid argument. Pochettino has shown more ambition than most so-called ‘big’ managers recently, he’s turned Spurs around into a team which are taken seriously now.
The fact is, he gets no money where he is now to do what he wants, but if he went to Old Trafford I guarantee it wouldn’t be long until the trophies started coming.
United aren’t the underdogs in the PSG game
It’s great news for Man United that Neymar has been announced as out of the PSG game in a few weeks. It helps their case, but they’re still a good side without him.
That being said, I’m surprised to hear how many people are calling United the underdogs in this game.
Based off the way they’re playing at the minute, and the fact they’re the same team that beat Juventus not so long ago, it’s crazy to think they’re the outsiders.
They’ve just won eight games on the bounce – they should be taken a little more seriously. Neymar not playing is just an added bonus for them.
OGS is 1/2 favourite to be United manager at the beginning of next season