When skies turn grey: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stares impending doom in the face

This was not how it was meant to unfold. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, those three words on the lips of every broadcaster, pundit, journalist, virtually since he took over the reins at Manchester United from the doom and gloom of the Jose Mourinho era in late 2018, has been a topic hotly debated. Is he the man to lead United back to the top? Is he just a juju vibes man? Can he compete with the world’s best managers? These questions have hung over him throughout his tenure, but have never seemed more appropriately intrusive than at this current juncture.

It feels as though the walls are finally closing in on the Norwegian. I stress the word finally because we’ve been here before, we know the drill, Solskjaer comes under scrutiny, hey presto a period of good form for a while, flirting with success before the pressure cooker begins and the cycle starts again and so on and so forth. Credit where it’s due, Solskjaer has never cracked when the kitchen got hot in the United job unlike his visibly irritant predecessors (Van Gaal, Mourinho) but this time it feels different.

United finished 2nd last year in the COVID season building on their 3rd place finish the season before after finding form and namely Bruno Fernandes. Then came the joyous summer of Viva Ronaldo, the blockbuster, romantic transfer conducted to bring one of the greatest players of all time for one last dance, to secure a big trophy with a team chock full of potential. Adding to their plethora of resources in the summer, United secured the signature of Jadon Sancho who they’d been chasing for some time now, as well as former Real Madrid teammate of Ronaldo, highly rated Raphael Varane. Signing one of the most talented young players in the world and a decorated defender who has won it all was Ed Woodward’s chef’s kiss, shifting the focus on Solskjaer giving him pretty much most of the tools necessary to succeed. The summer added a justifiable enormous weight of expectation, there aren’t many clubs in the world who can conduct such business.

With the keys to the castle given to the Norwegian, all eyes have been on him, he was never in a better position to prove that maybe United was right in giving him more than the caretaker role, that all the talk of ‘progress’ and ‘rebuild’ were correct. Last year hinted that perhaps Solskjaer, admirably surviving the trepidation of him as manager, was onto something. In the space of barely ten league games the house of cards has come crashing down. Displaying the tactical shortcomings many warned would be the nadir of his reign. It seems we have arrived at that point startingly quick, the positive vibrancy and partisan atmosphere of Ronaldo’s debut against Newcastle where everything was possible, seems like a long time ago.

United packed with an embarrassing array of versatile attacking talent akin to a dream team are a side incredibly brittle, every attack rampaging against their defence this season leaves them wobbling like jelly, relying on a midfield pivot of Mctominay-Fred that fans of the club have so gleefully decided to make a scapegoat and expect to extinguish every attack thrown at them. As if signing a new centre-back meant that they wouldn’t need to play the two anymore or an upgrade on the pair would change anything.

Solskjaer has been so busy trying to pack all the attacking arsenal he has in this side into the first eleven, it feels like he has forgotten to take care of its protective shield. The rock-bottom lowest of the low thrashing by Liverpool on Sunday raucously revealed Solskjaer’s failure to tighten up United, as if he and his coaching staff needed a reminder. As Luke Shaw said, this had been coming.
It was patently salient what the main problem was with this Solskjaer managed team last year, unable to break down low blocks, teams that sit deep, your Burnleys, West Broms. In his search for an answer to his kryptonite, he has run into a whole host of other issues. Seemingly working on making United uber-attacking, devoid of instructing his attackers they also need to chip in to provide defensive discipline. His attempted solution to his biggest problem will most likely be his undoing.

What worked for Solskjaer last year, was keeping things relatively tight (5th best defence in the league and 3rd if we take out the one-off 6-1 loss to Spurs) before relying on one of his stars (Fernandes, Pogba, Rashford, Cavani) to produce a moment of magic in periods of games where United had been jolted to life, probably by going behind. Akin to the manner in which Didier Deschamps France side have been able to keep opponents at arm’s length whilst allowing his high-quality stockpile of forwards to figure it out and win them games. All United did in the summer was add EVEN MORE arsenal to throw at the problem of deep-lying defences, allowing them to have a whole range of possibilities when searching for a goal, and more options to conduct attacks against teams that park the bus. This doesn’t mean that because you have all these shiny new toys you play with them all at once. But as United We Stand journalist Andy Mitten put it so aptly ‘Instead of fitting the jigsaw pieces into the puzzle, the puzzle has been thrown onto the floor.’

The humiliating Liverpool defeat was a Titanic moment, the ship of Manchester United long heading for the iceberg assuring that ‘things will be ok’ with a cinematic comeback featuring Manchester’s favourite Madeira native like the United of old, but there would be no more papering over the cracks. Liverpool devastatingly exposed United time and again highlighting English football’s worst kept secret all season of how woeful and easy to dismantle this side is. A wide chasm displaying where the two teams are, one a juggernaut coached by one of the world’s finest unmasking the other’s inability to hoist them to their level which didn’t seem miles away a short time ago.

Solskjaer should and will be remembered as the man who stared adversity in the face and succeeded in steadying the ship at Old Trafford. Ridding of deadwood and being the first manager to secure back to back top-four finishes as well as playing some of the best football since Ferguson left, lifting the spirits of the players and club in tandem. Whoever precedes him has a hell of a squad to work with, he’s the only manager since Ferguson to leave United in a better position than when he first came in. His work should be fondly appreciated and respected for stabilising Manchester United. However, before we barely scratched the mid-point of the season Solskjar has unknowingly answered the question of whether he can compete with the likes of Pep, Klopp and Tuchel emphatically, that answer is a firm no after being backed this season with a ‘reboot’ complete.

As the Manchester United board do what they normally do and deliberate haphazardly over decisions, biding their time in the aftermath of the Liverpool debacle reports have surfaced of players losing faith in Solskjaer’s tactics questioning his place as United boss. The Norwegian has overseen an upturn in form in many players we previously didn’t witness but it feels as though it is a matter of time before we see someone else take the helm in an attempt to gain that final elusive step of getting Manchester United anywhere close to the heights of before. Solskjaer won’t lose his job because his reign has been unsuccessful, he will lose his job because it isn’t working anymore.

Solskjaer has been a valuable asset to Manchester United in dark times both as a manager and a player, but now skies are quickly turning grey, and Solskjaer isn’t the man to make Man Utd happy.