Bruno Fernandes is a doubt for the Liverpool summit, according to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Bad timing since Fernandes thinks he has the answer to Manchester United’s ills. In keeping with his genius, his solution is mind-blowingly simple. Identify what is wrong and fix it. Brilliant.
The problem, in fact, has never been the spotting of shortcomings. Solskjaer’s analysis is needle-sharp. Whether it be defensive errors, failure of concentration, lack of intensity at the start of games, ineffective pressing, poor final pass, rank finishing, all features that were present in the first half against Atalanta, Solskjaer always makes sense of the United experience.
It is implementing the fix where Solskjaer struggles. Thus do the post-match laments roll into one, a sad song sung by a coach sadly out of tune, and arguably out of his depth. In the 18 matches before Atalanta, United registered as many defeats as victories, seven, with four draws. The Atalanta fixture was Solskjaer’s United in microcosm. In the space of 90 minutes they threw in a defeat, a draw and a win. At least he got the outcomes the right way round allowing him to bang the drum ahead of Liverpool’s visit.
It was, you will recall, a dispiriting defeat at home to Liverpool that ended Jose Mourinho’s miserable reign at Old Trafford. Solskjaer appears to have the confidence of the United board. Well, he is popular, honest, committed, loyal, hard-working, likeable, relatable, decent and fair, all qualities in which well-adjusted human beings are clothed. But they do not make him a leader of men. Indeed it feels like leadership, or the lack of it, is a blight running through the club, from absent owners to unproven manager, insipid coaches to rudderless squad.
United have players of great quality, nice players, but, with the possible exception of Cristiano Ronaldo, not enough with the visceral qualities inherent in a Roy Keane, Bryan Robson, Rio Ferdinand, Mark Hughes, Paul Scholes, ballers whose presence would evince an extra five per cent from those around them. When the likes of Fernandes, Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood get on top, they can be devastating, but, sans a commander to organise them, are brittle and prone to collapse.
Solskjaer conceded fundamental change might be required following the defeat to Leicester, which followed the draw against Everton, and losses against Aston Villa, Young Boys and West Ham, two of the latter at home. It could have been worse. United might have been six down at the break against Villarreal in the Champions League and trailed Atalanta by two. Ronaldo papered the cracks on each occasion.
Scholes felt unable to join the celebratory huddle surrounding Solskjaer, knowing that what he had seen against Atalanta was unsustainable. In the pre-match analysis, Scholes identified United’s difficulties as one of coaching without, in keeping with his former United colleagues in the punditry business, identifying Solskjaer as the culprit.
Perhaps he meant Kieran McKenna, drafted into the senior set-up by Mourinho three years ago. Before that, he was the under-18s coach. Before that under-18 coach at Spurs. He might also have been alluding to Michael Carrick, a fine player but another novice coach of only three years standing. Or what about veteran assistant Mike Phelan, aide de camp to Sir Alex Ferguson during his last five years in management, but sacked by Hull when given the lead role?
How to watch Man Utd vs Liverpool
- Date: Sunday 24 October
- Kick-off time: 4.30pm
- TV channel: Sky Sports Main Event
- Stream: NowTV
Solskjaer’s big move against Atalanta was to end the Fernandes/Pogba axis and restore Fred and Scott McTominay in deep midfield. This merely supplanted one problem by another. In essence, Fernandes and Pogba can’t defend, Fred and McTominay can’t attack. Scholes’ solution is to deploy Pogba as an orthodox midfielder alongside McTominay. Based on his exposure to him during his playing days, Scholes believes Pogba needs someone to marshal him on the pitch, “Someone in his ear” to bring discipline and shape to his play.
The alternative might be to accept after five years that Pogba is never going to work in this setting and begin afresh, or start anew with a coach who might bring out the World Cup winner in him every week. Solskjaer was favourite to be sacked with the bookies before the Atalanta match and after it was judged to be safe until the New Year. Such is the tightrope he walks.
The torment for United is the arrival of a Liverpool team restored to their imperious best by a gold standard coach with a world-leading forward line in the middle of an unprecedented scoring spree. Liverpool come to Old Trafford having netted three times in eight successive away games. While Ferdinand was encouraging him to enjoy the moment in the immediacy of the victory over Atalanta, Scholes could not escape the trauma of that first half and the prospect of eight becoming nine. “Do that against Liverpool on Sunday and see what happens. Imagine Jurgen Klopp watching that at home rubbing his hands together,” he said.
Were United’s ex-players have stepped back from calling for Solskjaer’s head, Liverpool touchstone Jamie Carragher has no such sensibility. He points to the impact of Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea as an example of the transformative power of proven coaches. Solskjaer has yet to beat Liverpool as a manager. Were he to succeed it would, on the evidence before us, lead inevitably to another anguished episode down the road. United, argues Carragher, require a coach commensurate with their status, not a good bloke who wants the best for the club but can’t deliver it.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3ptr9ik
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