Planning for the future is laudable, but at some point there must be evidence of a plan being enacted in the here and nowFor eight minutes at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, everything looked to be going well for Manchester United. And then suddenly it wasn’t. As it was in the game, so it has been for Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s career at Old Trafford. Have patience, the message comes again and again from the United board. Look at the youth in the squad. Wait for it to flower. But for how long, and at what cost? Related: Paul Pogba’s foot surgery could force Manchester United to recruit in January Related: Possessed Arteta coaxes Nicolas Pépé back from the living dead...
Phil Jones had a nightmare and what does it say about Solskjrs side that Scott McTominay is so sorely missed?Half-close your eyes, squint a little, do not think too hard and you could just about persuade yourself this was nearly a classic Manchester United comeback. But just as they were preparing to hail the youthquake, three goals by players aged 22 or under including one from Mason Greenwood, the third-youngest Premier League scorer in their history, Oli McBurnie popped up to point out that this is an imperfect simulacrum.It bears certain clear similarities to Manchester United, it has a manager who is clearly Manchester United, it plays with the tropes of Manchester United and yet somehow it is not quite...
Ole Gunnar Solskjær got so much right in Sunday’s draw at Old Trafford but even a lethargic Liverpool were good enough to deny him a much-needed victorySo close. So, so close. Manchester United came within five minutes of pulling off their best result since Paris in March. Had they done so, Ole Gunnar Solskjær would have been hailed for his tactical genius, for the boldness of the changes that forced Liverpool into their worst performance of the season, for the vision that found a plan from the most unpromising pieces. But results are the great validifiers, and the draw leaves United two points above the relegation zone. As Solskjær observed last week in what must have been for him a...
Ole Gunnar Solskjær, having leapt several steps of the managerial ladder, does not have a preferred style and it showsO n this weekend four years ago, Jürgen Klopp got off the bus at White Hart Lane before his first game as Liverpool manager to an extraordinary clamour. Fans packed the street outside the car park just to see him, and journalists packed the opposite pavement just to see them. The sense of excitement and expectation was palpable – and it has been justified. Liverpool have undergone a remarkable transformation since.Liverpool went into that fixture 10th in the Premier League table; they go into Sunday’s game at Old Trafford as league leaders and European champions. Of Klopp’s 18-man match-day squad four...
United’s shortsighted approach has left Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side lacking character – especially compared with Klopp’s teamLiverpool go to Manchester United on Sunday top of the table, nearly eight months since they last dropped a league point, and knowing that another victory could leave United as low as 17th by the end of the weekend. Based on performances this season it is hard to see how this United team can hurt Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, but perhaps the worst thing about the failure they are experiencing is that I believe they have no choice but to just live with it, for now at least.By the end of his time in Manchester José Mourinho was making everybody miserable – his players, anyone...