Different question marks to whether Ole Gunnar Solskjær has what it takes to bring back Manchester United to winning ways have emerged recently. These questions keep recurring after week-in-week-out abysmal performances on the pitch.
Manchester United have only garnered 8 points after playing 6 matches, and 10 points adrift Liverpool. The current 2019/2020 English Premier League (EPL) table-toppers have maintained 100 percent impressive start, while Manchester City only lost one game in their 8 premier league games.
Before the kick-off of the EPL campaign, Manchester United boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjær had added two players to its defensive line, Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£45 million) and Harry Maguire (£80 million); as well as Daniel James (£18 million) to beef up the attack.
Hopes were high when United thrashed Chelsea 4-0 in Old Trafford in their first match. However, Chelsea had in all positive indices beaten United but they couldn’t get the result. In subsequent games, most of United players’ performances were simply below average.
It became more worrisome on Sunday when West Ham United mauled United 2:0 at the London Stadium. The Hammers seemed too good for United players after two stunning goals from Andy Yarmolenko and Aaron Cresswell.
United could have taken the lead during the first half of the game but Marcus Rashford whom Ole is trusting to be his frontman failed to hit the target, a couple of times. It has been a recurring phenomenon for the 21-year-old attacker to keep missing clear cut chances this season.
United are yet to replace the current Belgian all-time goal-scorer Romelu Lukaku after his £74 million move to Inter Milan. Ole is also relying on injury-prone Anthony Martial, and other young stars like James, and Mason Greenwood.
Clearly, Ole’s technical skills get everybody thinking ”if he has the competence to lead the Red Devils”. Playing Ashley Young ahead of Marcos Rojo after an impressive Europa League outing was questionable. Juan Mata playing ahead of Angel Gomes as the number 10 man seems to be a bad decision.
The best formation for United has been the 4:3:3 formation but Ole has decided to stick to a 2-man midfield even when the likes of Nemanja Matic hasn’t been good enough, while the Brazilian Fred has shown some glimpses of good performance after Europa League outing on Thursday. Ole should stick to the formation that gave him a series of winnings when he was the caretaker manager. The 4:2:1:3 formation has proven to be ineffective.
Unfortunately, after the West Ham defeat, many fans had taken on social media for Ole to be axed. They are running out of patience after the same mistakes keep repeating themselves every week. Ole hasn’t added a twist to his game plan and that he must do to achieve results.
“You get a bad result, you change. Two weeks ago I didn’t see anyone saying ‘we want Ole out’ and now it’s changing after two weeks. Come on man,” Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand said on Sunday.
The club has had top managers like Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho who have been successful in their careers. These managers ended up been sacked while the problems still remain.
It is imperative for United to fall back to track and cement its spot in top European football competition. This will entail having an independent sporting director who works with the manager to get good quality players.
According to a report by Transfer Markt, Manchester United have spent a whopping €486.33 million on transfers in the last five years. And the current United squad lacks the needed quality to compete with Liverpool and Manchester City. In other words, the club has not done justice to recruitment as mostof the players have been conspicuously inconsistent.
With Ed Woodward, the club’s Chairman handling transfer decisions it may be difficult to get the players United to need to take it back to the top. That is the major reason a sporting director is needed at the club to resolve football transfer woes.
”At Bayern, the people in charge are football men. I always appreciated that. “At Manchester United, on the other hand, Ed Woodward was installed as CEO – somebody with zero understanding of football who was previously an investment banker, Van Gaal said in an interview with Independent.“It cannot be a good thing when a club is run solely from a commercially-driven perspective.
However, there have been lots of positives ever since Ole took over the United team. The cordial relationship and communication between him and the players have been impressive. The mood in the dressing room has been all positive
Speaking on the club’s official YouTube channel, Scott McTominay said: “Ole comes in and it’s ‘boom’.“Everybody’s 10 feet tall, looking around. “We think we can play against anybody. “And I think that comes from the belief instilled in the players and confidence shown.”
The United boss has also shown some level of confidence in his squad. He said many times in press conferences that he is going to succeed in the club. However, some players wouldn’t be part of that group. During the transfer window, he was able to clear some United players who were not taking leaving up to expectation.
The United’s tradition of promoting young academy graduates to the senior team is gradually coming into fruition, with the likes of Gomez, Chong, Garner, and Greenwood making on the list. The club is almost adopting the old United style of counter-attacking football which has been missing in recent years.
At this point, the club must do everything within its powers to regain its position as one of the best football teams in the world. It took Liverpool years to fall back to become competitive again and United is gradually falling into that same trap.