Is Ole Gunnar Solskjær the problem at Manchester United
Manchester United is an English football club with lots of history. However since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, their team is slaking not only internationally but also locally in the Premier League. On the 8th of December of 2020, they lost to RB Leipzig 3–2 in the highest competition of Europe, the UEFA Champions League. After two early goals by Angelino and Amadou Haidara. In the second half, Justin Kluivert scored a 3rd goal with a third defensive error. In the 80th minute, Bruno Fernandes scored a penalty after Ibrahima Konate conceded a foul in the box. Two minutes later, Paul Pogba won a header in the box and Konate made an own goal. However the last efforts did not help the Red Devils get a tie.
This loss meant they were disqualified and now will play in the knockout stages of the Europa League,a smaller international cup. The strange thing is that Manchester United was able to beat 5–0 to the same team, a month ago.
Statistically, Solskjær should have played with the same tactics as the game that they won in which he used 4–1–2–1–2 as a formation. He played Paul Pogba and Donny Van De Beek, two creative midfielders. He decided to bench both of them for today’s game and the lack of creativity in the first half was shown after their midfield consisted of two defensive midfielders, Nemanja Matic(who started both games) and Scott McTominay. We can see that Solskjær decided to play a defensive team. With Alex Telles and Aaron Wan Bissaka as attacking fullbacks and Luke Shaw at center back.
These tactics were exploited by RB Leipzig’s attacking football and massive defensive error from Aaron Wan Bissaka after giving space for Angelino to run and score the first goal. While it was Luke Shaw’s error in the second goal after giving space for Amadou Haidara to receive the cross and score. With lack of creativity he should have made changes from the defensive midfielders to more creatives to try and tied the game however until half time to sub one of their attacking fullbacks and turn the formation into a 4–3–1–2. The change brought more creativity to the game however his lack of management brought errors. For the last 3 games, his team started losing and he did not make a change until the 45th minute. Bringing subs he was able to turn the games around but that is not the correct way for a team with the quality of players that Manchester United have to play like that.
With a manager that has more years of experience, Manchester United could become a great team just like how they were seen a decade ago. A high probability is that Solskjær will get the sack after tonight’s game and this could bring Mauricio Pochettino or Massimiliano Allegri to Manchester United.
