Since taking over in December 2018, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has lost 33 Premier League matches, drawing 32 and winning 58 – he has won manager of the month just once
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looked a manager running only on the fumes of dwindling goodwill as he made his way to Manchester United's supporters after a shambolic 4-2 defeat at Leicester City.
As the Norwegian moved towards a discontented corner of the stadium to clap the travelling fans, he was faced with some sympathetic applause, anger and a fair few empty blue seats.
If the impression given by Leicester's two late goals is one of a close match, ignore it.
Leicester deserved their win and deserved to win by more. Manchester United deserved to lose and deserved to lose by more.
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Solskjaer can be chippy under criticism but, rather like Manchester United here at Leicester, he has little in the way of any defence after they were over-run and overpowered.
United's manager looked lost at times in his technical area as Leicester, back to their best, swarmed all over a team assembled at vast expense but one lacking organisation and leadership, panicking and creaking under pressure all afternoon.
As manager, Solskjaer will take the majority of blame – but some big personalities are in the dock after this game as well. The bottom line, though, is that there is one question more people will ask with increasing validity if United's poor form continues.
Is Solskjaer the right man to take Manchester United forward?
It is cruel but it cannot be dodged. And the evidence so far is not favourable.
First, though, there must be an exacting spotlight shone on United's players. This is not all down to Solskjaer.
Harry Maguire, to put it very politely, was ring rusty on his return from a calf strain. He ran the ball out of play with his first touch. He was robbed by Kelechi Iheanacho in the build-up to Youri Tielemans' strike to make it 1-1 and was part of a defence lacking any sort of composure. He looked well short of match fitness.
Bruno Fernandes spent much of the game complaining to referee Craig Pawson. Nemanja Matic was too slow to cope with Leicester's midfield while Paul Pogba had one of those frustrating, ineffective matches marked only by persistent fouling that ended with a yellow card.
And the biggest personality of all, Cristiano Ronaldo, was not exempt from this morass of mediocrity. He was on the margins throughout, only getting involved in flashes and unable to turn the tide in the manner of old when it went against United.
It was a grim 90 minutes for United, with Mason Greenwood – who scored a magnificent goal – one of the few who can escape criticism.
This was the first time Manchester United have conceded four goals in an away league game since April 2019, when they lost 4-0 at Everton
Solskjaer is now the man in the eye of the storm. He may have found a few friendly and sympathetic faces among the remaining Manchester United fans when he made a point of walking right up to them at the end but his glorious deeds as a player and admiration for the healing job he did after succeeding Jose Mourinho only goes so far.
One of the cases for Solskjaer's defence has been a similar points record to the much-celebrated Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool – and the two face each other in a potentially pivotal clash at Old Trafford next Sunday.
In his first 104 games at Liverpool. Klopp won 196 league points, while Solskjaer has claimed 194 in the same time at United. Victory on Saturday would have had him ahead of Klopp's record.
But the problem for Solskjaer is that the pace gets a lot faster from this point on. In Klopp's next 123 Premier League games, he won 283 points at an average of 2.30 per game, up from 1.88.
In other words, after an encouraging start, Klopp took Liverpool to the next level.
This United team shows no signs of being anywhere near as good as Klopp's Liverpool, who won the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020.
This places the magnitude of next weekend's game at Old Trafford into sharp relief. It is huge for United but especially for Solskjaer because he appeared powerless to do anything to stop the match at Leicester getting away from his team.
Even his double substitution of Scott McTominay and Jesse Lingard for Greenwood and Matic when Leicester went 2-1 up smacked of an act of desperation as opposed to a considered strategy. It had the same whiff of panic that characterised Manchester United's entire performance.
This has been a poor few weeks for Manchester United and their manager.
After the elation that greeted Ronaldo's return and his two goals in the 4-1 win against Newcastle United, Solskjaer has overseen defeat by Young Boys in the Champions League, won at West Ham United before losing at home to them in the EFL Cup, went down to Aston Villa at home in the league, and won in the last seconds in Europe against Villarreal before being held at home by Everton.
And then came this shoddy show. It is not taking it too far to suggest United were reduced to a rabble in the closing stages by a rampant Leicester.
There is talent in the squad – just look at a teamsheet containing Luke Shaw, Maguire, Pogba, Ronaldo, Greenwood, Fernandes and Jadon Sancho – but too often it seems United and Solskjaer are simply hoping one of their attacking talents comes up with a moment to win a game or rescue a point rather than executing a clear plan.
It is fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants stuff. Fingers crossed that a piece of magic can do the job rather than relying on a structure. This falls at the door of the manager.
They will certainly need to do better than this against Liverpool. It will need magic and more given their respective form.
Of course, it is easy to discuss Solskjaer's future but Manchester United's hierarchy have never wavered. His assistant Mike Phelan has been given a new contract and more backroom deals are planned. Ole seems firmly at the wheel.
In any case, there is another very pertinent question: Who is actually out there to replace him?
Solskjaer now faces a huge week, with Atalanta at home in the Champions League and then Liverpool, who will have regarded United's defensive woes here as mouth-watering.
These are testing times indeed for a Manchester United manager still without a trophy and with little indication he is transforming this expensive squad into title challengers.
Something has to give after Leicester defeat – Solskjaer
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Comment posted by Des55, at 19:53 16 OctDes55
19:53 16 OctYes he is 100% up to the job. Give him a pay rise, longer contract, keys to the city and a Caribbean Island. Oh and name a stand after him for the away fans!1285112
Comment posted by Vortex, at 20:23 16 OctVortex
20:23 16 Oct‘It is time to ask the question: Is McNulty up to the job?’1155109
Comment posted by squarewindow, at 19:49 16 Octsquarewindow
19:49 16 OctI’m a Liverpool fan but this is just garbage journalism from McNulty. His favourite pastime – trying to get managers sacked.1143111
Comment posted by Gary, at 20:03 16 OctGary
20:03 16 OctComparing his record to Klopp but not mentioning that he took over a far worse side and had a lot less money to spend.
He also immediately had the team playing to his philosophy, what exactly is Ole’s game plan again?60645
Comment posted by Ron Swansons mustache, at 19:57 16 OctRon Swansons mustache
19:57 16 OctOlly has never earned the right to coach such a big club, just look at his CV for heavens sake.47339
Comment posted by Sams Town, at 20:13 16 OctSams Town
20:13 16 OctAnswer is obviously NO.
Every BBC pundit lost the plot when Ronaldo scored a few goals but will they mention he was rubbish today & isn’t going to win the league for man utd?
doubt it.42920
Comment posted by cornwall-mart, at 20:23 16 Octcornwall-mart
20:23 16 OctAfter Sir Alex the “class of 92” came out of the woodwork and constantly criticised the next three managers on a daily basis resulting in moyse , gaal and jose losing their jobs. Then Ole came along and they all shut up, because he is one of their gang. That is why he is still in the job despite a lack of trophies and indifferent performances.42923
Comment posted by Mike T, at 20:30 16 OctMike T
20:30 16 OctKlopp, Guardiola & Tuchel are master tacticians. They build teams, make them better & those teams are greater than the sum of their parts. Utd buy individual players (often past their best) & Ole throws them on the field. Their results depend simply upon individual performances on the day. Ole has no Plan B – Utd are less than the sum of their parts. Until they learn this they will not challenge.39413
Comment posted by Tiddlywinks, at 20:05 16 OctTiddlywinks
20:05 16 OctOf course he’s up to the job. He’s doing a great job 😊👏👏👏👏34035
Comment posted by The Unheard, at 19:54 16 OctThe Unheard
19:54 16 OctHonestly I think Oli is creating a rod for his own back in the dressing room. The shocking treatment of Romero, VDB, Bailly. The persistent favoritism shown to relatively average players such as Mctominay, Lingard. Playing players till they break (rashford) players not fit (maguire). The lack of tactical nous and evolution. Is revealing himself to be not for the players but himself and the owners.31037
Comment posted by fletch, at 19:57 16 Octfletch
19:57 16 OctI like Ole but he should be getting more out of that group of players and he should be improving tactically but he doesn’t seem to be doing either. They seem overloaded with wingers and none of them seem to ever get better. They stay the same or get worse.2158
Comment posted by ericlemagnifique, at 19:57 16 Octericlemagnifique
19:57 16 OctOle’s the person who picked Maguire today & it was obvious to everyone he was not match fit. Why is Matic still at Utd? Chelsea got rid of him for a very good reason, he’s too slow. Utd needed a quality defensive midfielder but what did Utd do? Buy Ronaldo, great player as he is Utd didn’t need him. Lingard must be very frustrated. Who is buying these players? Ole or the board? If it’s Ole then go18210
Comment posted by Trencin Reds, at 20:23 16 OctTrencin Reds
20:23 16 Oct‘…….There is talent in the squad – just look at a teamsheet containing Luke Shaw, Maguire, Pogba, Ronaldo, Greenwood, Fernandes and Jadon Sancho…..’ Is it just me, or does anyone else think Maguire’s name looks very out of place in this list.18018
Comment posted by SBandy, at 19:52 16 OctSBandy
19:52 16 OctIt is quite simple, when the fans of your rival teams are begging the Man U board to keep him in charge he clearly aint up to the job.
10 more years!15813
Comment posted by J3YB, at 20:08 16 OctJ3YB
20:08 16 OctMake Bruno/Ronnie captain. Switch Sancho to the right. Pogba on the left. Greenwood should be an impact sub. Tell Carrick to turn Donny into a CDM. Put him alongside Scotty, and Sell Fred and Phil Jones for £7.50 each. Done. I’ve fixed it for you Ole.17127
Comment posted by Davic89, at 19:50 16 OctDavic89
19:50 16 OctShould never have been given the job in the first place14523
Comment posted by Unks, at 19:54 16 OctUnks
19:54 16 Octmost clueless manger in the league, but Top Reds love him, Steve Bruce scored a far more important goal for that club against Sheffield Wednesday than Ole did against Munich, but imagine the outrage if they were interested in Bruce after Jose14526
Comment posted by Salbor, at 20:00 16 OctSalbor
20:00 16 OctNo it’s not time to ask the question. There are far more interesting topics in football than the weekly Old Trafford analysis. It’s tedious and very boring and utterly time to be focusing on other teams who, quite frankly are far more entertaining to watch, let alone analyse.12521
Comment posted by Sallgoodman, at 21:18 16 OctSallgoodman
21:18 16 OctI think ole’s big mistake was not biting the bullet and getting rid of pogba. For all his 20% moments of brilliance he is dead weight the other 80% of the time. He wouldn’t make it into a Klopp team because there’s no work rate.913
Comment posted by Janner, at 19:52 16 OctJanner
19:52 16 OctHe is not up to it. End of.11329