Manchester United’s plans to keep Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in charge until the end of the season have been thrown into disarray by the calamitous performances against Manchester City and Liverpool.
United were hoping to make a decision on Solskjaer’s future in the summer when any change of manager could be planned out. However, back-to-back home defeats have piled the pressure on the Norwegian with Saturday’s lame surrender in the Manchester derby following the 5-0 embarrassment against Liverpool.
Solskjaer’s position is coming under intense scrutiny yet again after a dreadful run of six defeats in the last 12 games, culminating in the 2-0 loss to City at Old Trafford.
The feeling of optimism around the club in the summer that he could lead United to a title challenge this season has given way to a sense of shock and uncertainty.
Sportsmail can also reveal:
United were booed off at half-time and full time against City following a defeat that was every bit as humiliating as the five-goal mauling against Liverpool two weeks earlier.
The tame nature of United’s defeat has left Solskjaer once again fighting to keep his job after the club spent £135.6million on Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane in the summer to give him a squad as good as any in the top flight.
So far, there has been no appetite among the United hierarchy to sack Solskjaer having aligned themselves so closely with the Old Trafford legend and his task of restoring the club’s true values after succeeding Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal.
Co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward would have preferred to wait until the summer to assess the situation when the Norwegian would have been in the job for three-and-a-half years. Any change then would be viewed as considered with more time to install a suitable replacement.
They resisted calls to axe Solskjaer and appoint Antonio Conte two weeks ago before the Italian joined Tottenham because he was seen as a short-term option and too confrontational.
However, action may be forced on Solskjaer’s bosses if they decide that the former Cardiff manager is no longer capable of stopping the slide.
Comments
Post a Comment