FanPost

Is Solskjaer the one?

When Solskjaer came in last December he oversaw what seemed to be a rather improbable and somewhat fortunate sequence of results, with United riding their luck and outperforming their "expected goals" for an extended period. Since then they have reverted to the mean with an equally improbable set of uninspiring performances. The result is that Solskjaer is now averaging 1.80 points per game or just over 68 points for a full campaign which is slightly below the average number of points United have accumulated each season since Sir Alex packed it all in. Based on the past six seasons, 68 points miss out on a Champions League place by 4-5 points.

This should help set expectations for the season ahead. In terms of end product, Solskjaer is not likely to do much better than Mourinho or much worse than Moyes which confirms the point that United fans have known for some time: unless he is called Alex Ferguson, it really doesn’t matter who is in charge of selecting the starting XI when there are so many issues elsewhere, none more so than in the player recruitment department.

Despite this rather mundane looking situation Solskjaer still has the opportunity to put his mark on the team and re-align it with where it should be. The three summer recruits represent "typical United" signings, however, in the case of Maguire (and possibly even Wan-Bissaka) with a recruitment policy they could have both been at the club earlier and therefore at a much smaller cost. A hallmark of Fergie’s reign was in moving swiftly when acquiring young British talent as the recruitment of both Phil Jones (signed for £16.5M shortly after impressing as an 18-year old in a game against United in 2011) and Chris Smalling (signed for around £10M a year earlier as a 21-year old) demonstrate. Some of his acquisitions were mere punts especially those from abroad but with a balanced squad that regularly competed for and won titles these were gambles that he could afford to take.

As each United manager has to some extent sought to reverse what he has inherited and wasted many millions in the process – none more so than Mourinho and his preference for big, strong, sluggish players (the antithesis of modern football) - Solskjaer does not have the luxury of taking such gambles. Instead of inheriting a squad with a leader at centre-back and capable full-backs he has had to beg, steal and borrow for these to be recruited at the expense of further reinforcements in the middle of the park.

The damage that Mourinho did cannot be underestimated. In stark contrast to his predecessor who labelled Martial a purchase with the club’s next manager in mind, Jose instead lamented what he inherited (whilst trying to offload Martial) and pointed to two of his own hand-picked signings - Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic – as gifts for the next manager on the United carousel. Rightfully so, Solskjaer did not see these as gifts and as was mentioned on The Busby Babe podcast ahead of the Palace game, getting rid of two of his signings in Lukaku and Sanchez is no small feat. Having players picking up a handsome cheque in return for doing sweet F-A is not a problem unique to United, see: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/20/sports/soccer/dybala-juventus-transfer.html so getting rid of these two charlatans is to be commended.

Whether there was any seriousness in the rumours of Sebastien Haller joining the real United this summer as opposed to just increasing the amount that West Ham eventually paid, judging by his goals he could have been the perfect substitute that United have lacked since Van Gaal jettisoned Chicharito. Like Hernandez, Haller is a player that comes alive in the box that could have added at least 10 goals from the United bench. Even Mourinho with his reputation of a lack of tolerance for mediocrity, forged during his first spell at Chelsea with early substitutions, came unstuck when presented with the options on the United bench.

If Solskjaer is to make the most of this season he would do well to avoid the mistakes made by his predecessors and be more adventurous in his line-up, either at the start or during games – as opposed to allowing the situation to worsen before acting. Additionally, if he can free Pogba by utilising him in a more attacking role that Yaya Toure grew into at City, surrounded by competent runners there may still be some chance that United can outperform their recent average with the extra two wins needed to secure Champions League qualification come the end of the season. If that happens, there may even be the prospect of more exciting recruits to look forward to next summer.

Solskjaer is not the messiah that Gary Neville held him out to be after the PSG victory and he may not be the one to restore United to the top, but after six years of going backwards hopefully he can at least reverse that trend.

This FanPost represents the view of the member who posts it and does not necessarily reflect the views of <em>The Busby Babe</em> or <em>SB Nation. </em>