Ole Gunnar Solskjær isn’t just picking a more defensive team away from home – he’s picking a more effective one On the road with Manchester United: a journey in 19 acts. As with most road stories, the biggest question around United’s record unbeaten away run is whether, for all the fun, the jazz, the poetry, the roman candle pyrotechnics, it’s actually leading them anywhere.This is a bildungsroman that will head back to its start point once again on Sunday afternoon. It is almost exactly a year since United set off on their magic bus tour with a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge. Those 19 Premier League away matches without defeat have cut across two seasons, the mixed and varied delights...
Manchester United’s eerily featureless 0-0 draw with City will at least have eased the pressure on their manager“Football without fans is nothing,” read the banner draped across the Old Trafford seats on a lukewarm night in Manchester.Not quite nothing, perhaps. But in these Covid-19 ghost games there is a tendency, now and then, for the occasion to collapse like a deflated meringue if the start is too slow, the mood too muted. Football without fans isn’t nothing. But on nights like these it can look like 22 men running around while people in padded jackets shout at them. Related: David de Gea ensures Manchester United take point in draw with Manchester City Related: Everton v Chelsea: Premier League – live!...
Can the latest defensive calamity be blamed on the players or Ole Gunnar Solskjær – and should the club stand by their man?For Ole Gunnar Solskjær, perhaps space will be the final frontier. Specifically, the 70 yards of clear space Manchester United left behind them as they trotted forward for a corner in Istanbul that would in vanishingly swift order end up in their own net. Related: 'You don't see those goals at this level': Solskjær reflects on defensive disaster Related: Demba Ba sets up Istanbul Basaksehir's victory in comedy of errors from United Continue reading...
Voices gathered from Cardiff and Molde in writing a biography of Manchester United’s manager reveal much about the manAs Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s biographer, this writer was recently asked whether the military service the Norwegian performed as a 20-year-old aided the formation of a man whose career arc has taken in scoring Manchester United’s 1999 European Cup-winning goal to now being manager of England’s record 20-time champions.The answer in essence was Solskjær has a self-possession that means it was immaterial; that whether or not he did the mandatory year in Norway’s army his would still have been a life and sporting career that is a triumph of self-determination. Related: Diaries, astuteness and work ethic: the making of Solskjær the manager |...
Solskjær’s players lacked spark and Lampard’s were cagey – but in a wild season, will such caution become more prevalent?Ole Gunnar Solskjær can do one big thing well, and that is sit his side deep and attack on the counter. Frank Lampard has one big thing he has struggled to do well, and that is set his side up to defend well against the counter. That’s why when these sides met at Old Trafford last season, Chelsea had 54% possession, won the shot count 18-10 and lost 4-0. Everything Lampard did on Saturday seemed aimed at avoiding a repeat. Related: Mendy denies Rashford as Manchester United and Chelsea fail to find spark Related: Frank Lampard makes case for the defence...