Shocked, Stunned, Humiliated - It's Time To Go Solksjaer

 I cast my mind back to 2008-09, we were playing against Liverpool in a top-of-the-table clash and took an early lead through a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. At the time, I had a flashback of similar kind of clash between these two teams in the 2002-03 season and that match ended in a 4-0 rout. What transpired on that day in 2008-09 was beyond my wildest imagination. It was a collapse that left me depressed and shaken up. At that time, I was dating someone, I was so shaken and down that, I broke up with her.

Real Meaning Of A Footballing Nightmare

If I thought the result in 2008-09 was a nightmare then I was wrong because the true meaning of a nightmare was introduced to me last night. Paul Scholes’ prophecy after United’s 3-2 win over Atalanta held up. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer did not heed the warning signs and played the same team that started the match against Atalanta and United were taken to the cleaners by our arch-nemesis, Liverpool. Their fans were having a merry time in their end of the ground to rub further salt in our wound. If I had missed the section of boos after the first half against Atalanta, I certainly did not miss it at half-time against Liverpool. The anger, frustration, anxiety and embarrassment felt by the fans was rolling down from the stands to the ground. Thankfully for the safety of everyone concerned, it didn’t get violent with the pelting of objects. The second half went from bad to worst as we conceded a fifth and were a man down after Paul Pogba was sent off for a two-footed lunge on Naby Keita, leaving the Liverpool man in distress and stretched off. Thankfully, we didn’t concede more but losing 5-0 at home to your bitter rivals is the humiliation of the highest order. We have seen a 1-6 to our neigbours, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford but this hurt and stung a lot deeper than the other two due to the identity of our opponents.

Liverpool Were Miles Better

I went to catch up on my sleep after Pogba was sent off and as I lay in bed, the images of the goals and Liverpool celebrations remained etched in my mind like a bad nightmare that refused to go away. As I sat in my living room, watching the action unfold, I was stunned but it wasn’t something I would say was unexpected. Liverpool showed that they are miles ahead of us and last season wasn’t a true reflection of where these two teams stood due to the misfortune Liverpool had with injuries. Liverpool is a couple of injuries away from unravelling but you could see they are a well-coached team. The players knew what the plan was and knew what to do on the ball and without it. They were all comfortable on the ball, passed it around very well with pace and accuracy. I hate to say but I got to give credit where it's due and say that they are a much better team than we are at the moment.

Ole Out Of Depth

I will admit, I wanted an old boy to replace Jose Mourinho but was struggling to find a suitable name. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer was appointed instead and he did great until he got a permanent contract and then showed what we were to expect from him. It’s either feast or famine in terms of form with him at the helm. As time has progressed, I have gotten more upset and frustrated with him. It started with the treatment of Sergio Romero then came the reluctance and timing of his substitutions and then the gameplay with his cautious double pivot system. By last season, it became apparent that despite all the talk on attacking play and the United DNA constantly rolled out in press conferences, he is not different from Mourinho - safety first and taking no risks. After the 1-6 mauling by Tottenham, he was happy picking up 0-0 draws without showing much attacking ambition against teams that we could have taken on. In terms of play as well, we didn’t have a defined system and it looked like we relied heavily on the individual brilliance of our players to make something work. It rarely looked like we had worked on systems of play in training. I was at my wit's end at the end of last season after the Europa League final defeat but I knew there was no way the board would have sacked him so I hope he would reflect during pre-season and change.

The club backed him by signing a World Cup-winning defender that we are badly missing at the moment, Raphael Varane, a winger that he has been chasing for 2 transfer windows, Jadon Sancho and the return of one of the all-time greats of the game, Cristiano Ronaldo. Add them to a squad that had some very good players and he was expected to challenge closely for the title but it has been a horror show. He is still stubbornly sticking to his favourites, still showing reluctance in relying on other members of the squad and still playing in the same system without a defined style of play. While last season, he showed the tendency to sit back and shut up shop, this season that is also missing. His ability to manage a club of the magnitude of Manchester United with the expectations that come with it against other elite managers in the league is highly doubtful and he looks out of depth. His inexperienced coaching staff has also been brought into question. But yet after the 5-0 mauling, I will not be surprised at all if the club does not sack him.

Stuck To The Past

The big English clubs take a much longer time than their counterparts in the rest of Europe to rise back to the top because they are so stuck and ingrained in the past. It took Liverpool 30 years to win the league again. While Liverpool was struggling, Manchester United was flourishing and at that time, the players were making the right noise that United will learn from Liverpool’s mistakes and not repeat them when Sir Alex retires. As it turns out, easier said than done. United are still searching for an all-encompassing figure like Sir Alex and have failed to find one and would keep on failing if they don’t move on with times. Sir Alex was one-off and last of his kind. The man ensured we enjoyed success for close to three decades partly because he kept up with the times and that is what the club has not done. I can understand if there is a transitional period of getting to grips with a new reality for United after he retired but that period seems to be never-ending. Eight years without winning the league, four years since we won any trophy.

No Time To Wait

This constant Public Relations narrative that we need time does not cut it with modern football. In modern football, especially for a mammoth club like Manchester United, you are expected to win quickly. There is no time to wait and that is the reality. The reality is you need a strong manager to manage the team and work in tandem with the Director Of Football, who will work on building the team. The comparison between Jurgen Klopp and Solksjaer is not accurate as well. Klopp has won the Bundesliga and German Cup with Borussia Dortmund before he joined Liverpool. At Liverpool, he at least got the team to play in Cup finals before winning the Champions League. You could see what he was building as his squad was getting stronger season after season and they were developing a style of play. They got the closest to Manchester City before winning the league. With all due respect, Solksjaer won the Norwegian league which isn’t one of Europe’s big leagues and after many failed attempts at reaching a Cup final, got there last season before making a mess of it. They finished second last season too but were a distant second. Mourinho too had finished a distant second in his time at United but he accumulated more points than Solksjaer did last season.

Quality In The Squad Requires The Right Manager

The quality is there in the squad. All you need is someone to step in, manage and coach the team well, get the balance of the team right and organise them. That person also has to instil a strong mentality in the team and be ruthless in his selection without favouring anyone. It’s not the players' fault if they keep getting played despite being out of form, overworked or if they look clueless on the pitch. The players got to do better individually but it does appear that for the first time in his tenure, the players have stopped believing in him.