Week 41: Underperforming Men, United
A leader who is drastically under-achieving and unable to get very much from his equally hapless and overpaid team. One who is overseeing calamity after calamity at home, and even with the odd bit of success when it comes to Europe, even those who were once sure he was the right man for the job are now having second thoughts. Repeated mistakes, a lack of clarity and decisiveness, happy with woeful performances, a lack of strength; delaying changes until it’s far too late and yet, seemingly very hard to get rid of too.
Not Boris Johnson. Well, of course, Boris Johnson. But also Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
A week ago, some radio pundit said that the table was a bit misleading. Solskjaer’s stuttering Manchester United team were sixteenth but with a game in hand (at Burnley) and if (assuming it was played before this weekend) they won that, they’d be fourth. They wouldn’t now. They’d be somewhere between twelfth and fourteenth.
And if they lost it, they’d be where they are now. Fifteenth, with a measly seven points and a goal difference of minus 4. So far, their two Premier League wins have come at Brighton and Newcastle, both residing in the bottom half. The Brighton game was won with a VAR penalty awarded after the final whistle. In the 4-1 win at St James Park, the final three goals arrived after the 86th minute with two in added time. I know it’s a lot of ifs but without the VAR intervention they could have just five points and be below the Seagulls instead. Whichever way you cut it, it’s been really quite rubbish.
In a bad week off the field for United, losing legend Nobby Stiles on top of the news that one of their all-time-greats, Bobby Charlton, is suffering from dementia, it didn’t get any better on it as they slipped to a third home defeat in four against Arsenal (their first win at Old Trafford since 2006). They’d already been well beaten by Crystal Palace (1-3) and particularly Spurs (1-6) with their only point coming in a stodgy goalless draw with Chelsea in a league that doesn’t do goalless draws and a game that they could just as easily have lost. Solskjaer was happy with the point that day (they won the same fixture 4-0 in 2019/20) and that might speak volumes about where they are right now.
I’ve confessed to a childhood-induced soft spot for the Red Devils in the past and I’ve nothing against Solskjaer either, who seems like a thoroughly decent bloke – which may or may not be part of the problem – but it’s pretty clear things can’t go on as they are. Like lockdowns, you can only keep repeating them so often before everyone begins to raise their eyebrows and wonder when a real leader is going to emerge from somewhere.
The curious juxtaposition of their bad start alongside their Champions League form is not only probably keeping the manager in a job but also a major fly in the ointment of those fans who have already made up their mind. A win in Paris against PSG (last year’s finalists, remember), followed by a 5-0 rout of RB Leipzig (the team they beat in the semi-final) has put them within touching distance of the knockout stage already with two games against Istanbul Basaksehir to come (the first one at the time of writing).
Given their inconsistent start, they could win it 6-0 or play out another nil-all draw.
To those who point to it only being six league games into the season, that’s fair but United started poorly last campaign too (after the win against Chelsea they won only one more of their next eight league games and didn’t win away at all until 27 October). The topsy-turvy, interrupted season saw them draw with Rochdale in the cup, lose to Astana in the Europa League and lose several league games including those at Bournemouth, Watford (who were both relegated) and to Burnley at home.
They also had the best record after the coronavirus delay, unbeaten and winning seven of their ten games. Before the enforced break, they’d just beaten neighbours City (2-0) for the third time out of four meetings. Little of it made sense then and still doesn’t. OSG can get results – big ones too – but more often than not they have fallen short; the one defeat they did suffer to City was enough to knock them out of the EFL Cup and they also lost further semi-finals to Chelsea and Sevilla after the lockdown.
Solskjaer’s tenure as manager has been riddled with ups and downs. As a player he is a club legend after scoring 91 goals (half of them after coming on as sub against Nottingham Forest one afternoon) in 235 games; a fair proportion which he started on the bench. His status was earned because of just one of those goals – the winner in the Champions League Final at the Camp Nou to take the cup literally out of Bayern’s hands. It’s that goal which makes any boardroom decision that bit harder right now. It’s that goal which might have inadvertently led to at least one more season of mediocrity in the Premier League.
As the boss, he’s found the fans harder to please despite that love for him. Another brilliant unbeaten run got him the job full time in the first place. Initially a caretaker that was to keep the hot seat warm, the succession of wins that was topped by an incredible 3-1 victory at PSG (overturning a 0-2 first-leg deficit) forced the hands of those at the top and he was given the job on a full-time basis.
But results after that weren’t so good and got worse as the season concluded with many seeing the 0-4 loss at Everton as a new watermark in a period of increasingly more lows than highs.
But it wasn’t just on the field where cracks were showing. The club’s transfer policy has been a shambles and the conveyor belt of young players seems to have slowed compared to what we’ve seen in the past. While youngsters have emerged they haven’t done so with quite the impact of previous youth sides and the Class of ’92 feels a lifetime ago now.
While much of that can’t be placed at Ole’s door, it marks a time where the club don’t seem to have any of the direction that they enjoyed so much under Surralex Ferguson. It’s hard to live up to that example and better managers have tried and failed but is there any reason to believe that Solskjaer can succeed where they couldn’t?
Although Bruno Fernandes has added quality, summer signing Donny van de Beek has spent more time on the bench and Paul Pogba looks as if he’s been handcuffed to the club and is sulking accordingly – as his petulant concession of a penalty at the weekend showed. More concerning were the post-game quotes that suggested that the manager was satisfied with what his team are doing. It’s difficult to imagine Fergie being quite so accommodating and Danny Gabbidon – who played under OSG at Cardiff City – said that he doesn’t have that kind of streak in him. But as Jose, Klopp and Pep have all proved at times, ruthlessness is a pre-requisite for leading a team in the Premier League these days.
So what next? If the winning runs have saved him at times, and the empty stadiums are definitely shielding him from the ire of disgruntled fans, the defeat of Neymar, Mbappe and Co in Paris has, if not making him 100% resistance from being fired, certainly scotch-guarded him.
It all leaves Ed Woodward in a bit of a quandary.
They don’t want to be a sacking club and have already fired Mourinho and Van Gaal, after getting rid of long-term plan, David Moyes, less than one season into a six year contract. Is there another Pep Guardiola or the next Jurgen Klopp out there for them?
Klopp in particular has shown that a lower-profile manager can become a hero if he builds the right squad. It’s what Woodward hoped Solskjaer might do too – and appointing former players is very in right now – and he still might. Klopp took a little while to find his feet and people forget that United themselves struggled initially under Ferguson.
But this season already looks like a write-off. The Champions League can be a fragile competition where the best don’t always win it, but can anyone see this United team beating Bayern, Juventus or even the Spanish teams – not to mention Liverpool or City – over two legs?
The run at the end of last season saw them reach the Champions League again at the expense of Leicester City who’d been in the top four for most of the campaign. But did it also mask some issues and create a false sense of security and promise?
Leicester and Brendan Rogers seem miles ahead of them already, as are other five of the ‘Big 6’. A place in next season’s Champions League – a major trigger for sponsors – feels like a pipe dream unless the manager can find yet another long winning run.
So does Woodward cut his losses and act now? They will no doubt have already sounded out the likes of Pochettino (apparently, Fergie’s preferred choice ahead of OSG in 2018) and Allegri but any new man coming in now will demand time and money to turn the ship around. Maybe a proper long-term plan is exactly what they do need.
And this assumes they will get rid at all. Solskjaer’s status and reputation at the club is a barrier that the likes of Watford and Southampton don’t have when it comes to hiring and firing but this would be akin to shooting the fan’s family dog and the board will be mindful of that.
It’s the major downside of making a legendary player into a manager. The others don’t have an affinity with the club that makes it so sticky for all concerned when things go wrong, and it does seem to go that way for them all eventually.
It did for Glenn Hoddle’s status at Spurs and nearly did for Sir Kenny’s at Liverpool too. To a lesser degree, its harmed Ryan Giggs at Old Trafford as he first oversaw four games as caretaker (one of them a home defeat to Sunderland) then assisted LVG during his less than stellar spell. Giggs would probably dispute that his time on the sidelines was a failure but then, he denies everything.
Frank Lampard and Mikel Arteta are both doing reasonably well right now having been put in a similar position to Solskjaer, but they also know that whereas a player can be a legend without winning a league or cup every single season, a manager cannot. It’s why Steven Gerrard should – but won’t – think long and hard when he’s given the chance to follow Klopp in a few years’ time.
It’s not that they are necessarily given the job for the wrong reasons but it both clouds judgements and creates problems when it doesn’t work out. Solskjaer might well transform this season, and his managerial career, but if he doesn’t then it will seem as if his charm, connection and former glories will have been put ahead of his coaching capabilities.
People are naturally fond of them because of what they’ve done in the past. We overlook the gaps and weaknesses which only become horribly apparent when there is a continued downturn in results. The things we thought they could repeat all the time suddenly becomes seem much more of a one-off.
Eventually, for the longer-term good, they will have to be shown the door. People will forget what happens in Europe because it won’t make up for what is happening on their doorsteps. One time biggest-fans will never see them in the same light again. Their status will be forever tarnished and in the end, they’ll actually be rather glad to see the back of them.
Not Boris Johnson. Well, of course Boris Johnson.
But maybe, soon, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer too.
words Darren Young, D3D4 columnist