OLD TRAFFORD — It might happen in several months, or several years. It might even take a decade, if Manchester United’s hierarchy appoint a series of bad managers – don’t put it past them. But there will be a day when we look back on the last few weeks of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s tenure as Manchester United manager and wonder how on earth he stayed so long.
This novice coach, this well-intentioned man, had a role to play in connecting a support with its club after relationships had broken down. We’re now at the point where he’s making things significantly worse again. This is a collection of excellent players who are performing like a rabble. Never has that been more obvious than on Sunday afternoon.
This fixture will always be a rivalry; it used to be a contest. Liverpool scored four at Old Trafford during their last trip in May. They declared on five in October but even that fails to fully reflect the embarrassing ease of their victory.
Pick your defining image: was it five Manchester United players desperately chasing back four Liverpool players who were through on goal against one defender? Was it Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw – both typically excellent for England – both leaving the ball? Was it United supporters streaming out of Old Trafford after 49 minutes? Was it the cheer from the away end that greeted United’s meaningless goal being disallowed? Was it Paul Pogba being brought on to stem the tide and being sent off within 15 minutes.
No, scratch that: there can only be one. After Liverpool had scored their fifth goal, the cameras panned to Sir Alex Ferguson in the stands, scowling and exhaling as if he had just sat down in an exam and realised that he had revised the wrong subject. Ferguson could think of nothing worse during his tenure than losing at home to Liverpool. Resentment that strong never dies; Fergie will be in more pain than anyone else in the ground.
Sunday afternoon might just have been Manchester United’s worst half of football in the Premier League era, given the opponents and given the catastrophic, abject nature of their defending. The boos that rang out at half-time were toxic. United’s match-going supporters represented the last bastion of Solskjaer’s support; now they have surely turned too.
There is a reason why Solskjaer was a rank outsider for the caretaker job in the first place; experience counts. Winning the Norwegian league was not sufficient preparation for the demands of one of the biggest clubs in the world, and nor was playing for them 15 years previously. The reason to appoint him was clearly based upon his own history with the club, and it clearly counted for something when in caretaker charge. But it means nothing now. Manchester United is a different beast from the one Solskjaer remembers as a player.
There is the argument that United have tried big-name managers before – so what? That does not mean that you double down on someone who isn’t up to the task. Have two bad experiences with two plumbers and you wouldn’t ask a dental hygienist to fix the boiler.
There is the argument that United’s ills are not all down to Solskjaer; absolutely correct. But having five problems isn’t a reason for attempting to solve none rather than one; not being your club’s only problem isn’t a defence of your suitability for the job. No reasonable supporter believes that changing Solskjaer for another coach would suddenly solve the club’s myriad of issues. Again, that’s not a defence to keep the wrong man in charge.
Usually in the case of emphatic victories, the winner is unfairly ignored in favour of scathing criticism directed at the loser. But then that doesn’t feel inappropriate here. Liverpool did not need to perform at their best. They were occasionally haphazard in defence and careless in midfield. They were also plenty good enough to punish a Manchester United team that performed in the first half as if they had never watched Liverpool play before.
At regular intervals during the last half hour of the game, the Liverpool fans in their corner of Old Trafford chanted with more delight than they had all afternoon. They occasionally paused when their team attacked, but soon got back to their song. “Ole’s at the wheel,” they repeated on loop.
That is the stage we have reached, when Manchester United’s greatest rivals are taunting their opponents by pleading for them to keep their manager in charge. There can be no greater damnation for a Manchester United coach. There were reasons to have faith in this experiment, despite all evidence that it was based on nothing but romance and nostalgia. Those reasons expired several months ago. This is the endgame of the Solskajer era.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3m885UA
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