Following the embarrassing 5-0 home loss to Liverpool, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was said to have three matches to save his job. However, it was never apparent what those outcomes had to be. So, has the former Manchester United legend done enough to keep his job?
Despite seriously considering sacking Ole following the defeat to Liverpool, the club’s administration chose to keep the 48-year-old manager in charge. His Man United team went 1-1-1 in their following three games after switching to a three-centre-back formation. A league win at Tottenham and a Champions League draw at Atalanta were followed by a dismal 2-0 home loss to Manchester City, which brought back the sour feeling of the Liverpool nightmare.
After twelve rounds in the Premier League, Manchester United have fallen from among the favourites, to laughing stocks who have made mediocrity their gold standard. According to a reliable site, keeping a manager longer at a football club is believed to be one of the sure contributors to players’ good development, but there will be discussions about where the Norwegian is taking United. Visit the site to learn more on how to improve football.
Despite labelling the 5-0 result “rock bottom”, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claimed after the Liverpool match that he still thought he was the ideal man for the job. And he was still sure of it following Man United’s humiliating defeat to Manchester City, in which they were outclassed and outplayed. Ole said after the City loss:
“We’ve got to get back to what we started to look like and we started to look like a proper team toward the end of last season and the start of this season.”
“We need to get back to what we started to look like for a while, and we’ve got the players to do that.”
“I’m in good communication all the time with the club and very upfront and honest about the situation,”
“I work for Manchester United and want the best for Manchester United. As long as I’m here, I want to do what I can do to improve this, and that’s going back to what we started to look like.”
However, the general consensus following both matches against title favourites Liverpool and Manchester City is that those teams had clear game plans, and styles of play that allowed them to appear a step ahead of a Man United team that were merely reacting and failing to meet the same standards.
The same flaws were evident against Atalanta in the Champions League and Tottenham in the Premier League, but Cristiano Ronaldo saved the day with magnificent individual performances in both games, earning a victory and a draw.
Despite making high-profile additions in the summer, including Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho, and Cristiano Ronaldo, the Red Devils have struggled to find a winning formula this season. They have won only one of their last seven Premier League games, dropping to seventh in the table, twelve points behind leaders Chelsea.
How the table looks after an action-packed return to #PL life 🙌
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— Premier League (@premierleague) November 20, 2021
The Red Devils have already been knocked out of the Carabao Cup, and have had to come from behind in each of their last three Champions League games after losing to Swiss club Young Boys in the first match of the group stages.
The 5-0 defeat to Liverpool was the lowest point in a difficult few weeks, and the performance against City didn’t seem like any progress. For betting fans, Manchester United are no longer considered pre-match favourites. There will be a lot of scrutiny going forward, and as usual, Betway will provide plenty of markets for all EPL, continental, and cup games.
Norwich and Aston Villa sacked their managers after the previous weekend matches, and all eyes are now on the Manchester United board. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is among the favourites to be the next manager to lose his job with reports of Zinedine Zidane being pursued.
Meanwhile, Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, and Luke Shaw all missed the FIFA qualifiers for their respective countries due to injuries. However, Shaw recovered from his head injury in time to start against Watford on Saturday. Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would have been praying to get through the rest of the international break without losing any more of his players to injuries.
Solskjaer certainly would have watched Portugal’s winner-takes-all 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Serbia where Portugal fell 1-2 with a lot of interest. Diogo Dalot, Bruno Fernandes, and Cristiano Ronaldo were all in action, and the good news is that they all came out of it unscathed. All three also started in Portugal’s goalless draw with the Republic of Ireland.
Read More:
- Major Update On Solskjaer’s Future At Man United Via Club Sources
- Ajax Manager Erik ten Hag Emerges as one of the Heavyweights to Replace Ole at United
- Ralf Rangnick Front-runner for United Job | Three Reasons as to Why he is an Upgrade to Solskjaer
Victor Lindelof also featured in the qualifiers for Sweden, playing against Spain in what was billed another crucial encounter in the race to qualify for next year’s tournament in Qatar. Spain downed Sweden 1-0 to take control of their group.
Following the completion of the international break, the Reds travelled to Vicarage Road to play Watford on Saturday, hoping to take the first step toward atonement. However, the deterioration and humiliation continued as United lost 4-2 against one of the relegation contenders.
Follow AD for the latest Matchday updates on Manchester United.
