While Unai Emery staved off calls for his sacking with the late comeback from Arsenal versus Aston Villa, not every manager got off so easily in England this weekend.
Marco Silva is certainly feeling the strain at Everton after expectations have yielded woeful results; José Mourinho’s name has begun swirling. Mauricio Pochettino is facing questions on his future at Tottenham with a poor start to the season and loss to Leicester City yesterday to boot; Ole Gunnar Solskjær may be in greatest peril of them all at Manchester United.
While Solskjær is least tenured of the aforementioned managers, Manchester United is of a unique quality and expectation. Their fans and owners have exceptional standards for the club. After an inspired start to his United managing career mid-season with the dismissal of José Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjær has presided over an extraordinarily mediocre era of United football.
The fire that Ole Gunnar Solskjær presided over in his initial games and months could very well be seen as a simple reaction. To change styles so drastically from great conservatism to a more free and flowing motif was surely invigorating. When that faded, there was little there in terms of focus and discipline. This was demonstrated in the flame outs seen in European and Premier League play as both campaigns drew to a close.
Since defeating Chelsea in early August to begin the campaign, United have seen woeful result after dropped points. The slide in performance punctuated by a victory versus Leicester City last week is nearly at rock bottom.
West Ham’s hammering of Manchester earlier today is as close to free-falling as Ole Gunnar Solskjær has experienced as a manager, let alone at United. How he has gotten his team to respond to this point illustrates his weaknesses as a relatively inexperienced manager at such a level of football. They have simply not responded at all; an indictment on the boss and his communication skills.
Now, it can be argued that Ole Gunnar Solskjær still needs more time and transfer windows to transform his squad properly. I myself would not disagree with this assessment entirely. Reports have demonstrated many of his personnel innovations were denied to him by United this past window, potentially stifling growth as well as this campaign.
With that said and noted, the players and resources at Manchester United are not those of Derby County. The players are of top-tier talent with names like Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Fred, David De Gea and Jesse Lingard, riddling the team with inspiration. Yet Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjær play devoid of any and all inspiration.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær has been in as bad form as the rest of his team since the interim tag was removed from his title. That decision seems to have been the turning point in his tenure with Manchester United and it has been a detriment to both he and his teams development and volition since. What is to be done with all of this said?
One could argue either way; Solskjær certainly has had enough time with enough talent to demonstrate greater progression than he has made. A major factor is undoubtedly in the chain of succession; who do you hire to replace him? Another caretaker manager would resolve little for the long term and put the club back where they were with Solskjær himself nearly a year ago. Keeping him on unless a suitable replacement could be attracted mid season seems in best taste for club and top six ambition.
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That is by no means a condoning the performance by Ole Gunnar Solskjær this season. He very likely will be sacked without a top five finish, perhaps even top four alongside domestic and Europa League success. Does keeping a “dead man, walking” for all intents and purposes benefit the team over a caretaker manager? It is difficult to assess as it seems to be a team by team basis.
While the sacking of José Mourinho galvanized Manchester United with passion and a new system last year, can that pattern repeat itself with another new face and spirit? It seems that after a while, some onus must be carried by the players. If that is recognized as true then we can conclude that sacking Solskjær would be the essential appeasement of petulant children.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær should have the year to leave a true impression on Manchester United. It would be very cheap to give him simply the end of José Mourinho’s season, followed by a quarter or half of the following one. He deserves as much with his legacy at the club and just maybe, the players will face a modicum of blame for the fall of Manchester United. The effort they have demonstrated on a match to match basis cannot entirely be attributed to a manager of great positivity and enthusiasm. Everyone in that dressing room should be looking themselves in the mirror just three weeks into September.