ven if the board don’t immediately follow suit, the jig is up. There’s no coming back from this one. The Norwegian is a dead manager walking.
If the owners let him continue they should be charged with gross misconduct in charge of a football club. This performance stunk to high heaven. You could practically see the team rotting on the field.
The players knew recent results put Solskjaer under severe pressure which would be greatly increased by the high-profile nature of this fixture. Such circumstances sometimes motivate a team to pull out all the stops for the boss.
Instead, United’s combination of self-indulgence, carelessness and indiscipline came off like a 90-minute plea for the manager’s departure.
Almost three years ago a 3-1 defeat by Liverpool at Anfield led to Jose Mourinho’s sacking. There was general agreement that the performance was unforgivable, a disgrace to a great club etc. But it was like the 1968 European Cup final display compared to yesterday’s fiasco.
Chickens came home to roost so ferociously they turned out to be birds of prey in disguise. Solskjaer’s United have long adopted the attitude of the titular hero in The Mask of Zorro who quips, “I needed that scratch to awaken me”, on receiving a wound early in a swordfight.
The drawbacks of this lackadaisical approach against a really good team were made plain when Liverpool, after being handed an early lead, had no intention of being hauled back by their unpredictable foes.
“You never knew what they’re going to do next” may be an endearing quirk in a six-year-old child but it’s an awful indictment of a top football team.
Though perhaps calling United a ‘team’ is not entirely accurate. They’re more a collection of individuals which, under pressure, becomes a lot less than the sum of its parts.
The damage was done by the time Paul Pogba arrived on the pitch yet his attitude summed up United’s. The Frenchman is one of the best midfielders in the world and after the defeat by Leicester spoke about the need for the team to get their act together.
Yet, introduced in the hope he’d lead a rally, Pogba’s sole contributions were to give the ball away for Liverpool’s fifth goal and get sent off for a horrible tackle on Naby Keita he must have known would earn a red card.
He wasn’t the only United player who didn’t seem too worried about staying on the pitch. Cristiano Ronaldo’s kick at Curtis Jones as the Liverpool player lay on the ground also flirted with dismissal while tackles by Bruno Fernandes on Jones and Harry Maguire on Diogo Jota suggested a collective losing of the rag.
Fernandes did manage to get off early when subbed in the 62nd minute. So did Marcus Rashford who epitomised United’s rampant self-indulgence with a wild 30-yard backpass in the 32nd minute which almost put Mohamed Salah in for a goal.
Four minutes later, a Fernandes flick put Rashford in behind the Liverpool defence. Instead of taking a touch the striker essayed an almost impossible first-time volley which sent the ball trickling wide.
Once again a United player seemed more interested in his personal highlight reel than the needs of the team.
The collective impression is of a lack of respect for the manager. Solskjaer appears at the mercy of the superstars at his disposal. They seem bigger than him.
Self-indulgence is at the root of United’s problems. Not just from the players but from those who appointed Solskjaer in an attempt to curry favour with the club’s fans. Chelsea went the same populist route with Frank Lampard but acted ruthlessly when their mistake became clear.
The three title contenders are managed by three world-class managers with phenomenal winning records. United will remain also-rans until they recruit someone of the same calibre.
Antonio Conte seems the obvious candidate. Chelsea’s utterly dominant title winning season of 2016-’17 displayed his Premier League credentials and he’s got even better since. His steering of Inter Milan to last season’s Serie A title against 10-in-a-row-seeking Juventus was not only the finest managerial achievement of the year but may have been the greatest of Conte’s glittering career.
For all his talent Brendan Rodgers seems much more suited to Arsenal or Spurs than United where his failure at Liverpool would put him under pressure straight away. Zinedine Zidane might be a better fit but his lack of experience away from Real Madrid makes him something of a gamble.
Conte’s flinty approach could work wonders with United’s pampered performers.
But such speculation presumes the club owners actually want to improve things. There’s still the possibility of them settling, like
late-Wenger period Arsenal, for scraping into the Champions League.
But the long-term results of steadily decreasing expectations in this way has become obvious at the Emirates. Manchester United need to be better than that, especially with Newcastle looming on the horizon.
Yesterday’s performance was the footballing equivalent of Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. Though no doubt as the remnants of the French army straggled into Paris, Pierre Neville was telling Jean Claude Tyler that the gaffer simply needed time to rebuild the army and bounce back.
“They just pressed too high up the steppes today, Jean Claude.”
Bonaparte had at least won a few big things in his time. Solskjaer never has and never will.
United need a new manager. Failing that, the fans might try another pitch invasion. Maybe Bashar al-Assad or Kim Jong-un fancy investing in a Premier League club.
