The international break could perhaps not have come at a better time for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, with the Manchester United boss getting a fortnight to reflect on their 6-1 humbling against Tottenham over the weekend- the joint heaviest league defeat for the Red Devils in the modern Premier League era.
United were almost comical in the way they capitulated against their former manager. Harry Maguire effectively pulled down his own team mate Luke Shaw for Tanguy Ndombele’s first goal, Eric Bailly virtually committed hara-kiri for the third goal by attempting to play out of the back despite several Spurs players surrounding him, and Paul Pogba gave away a clumsy foul for the final penalty.
Solskjaer called it “the worst day of his managerial career”, but even he would not have anticipated the nature of this thrashing. The signs of United’ s deterioration were present in the league games against Palace and Brighton, and had it not been for Neal Maupay’s moment of stupidity at the end at the Amex Stadium, United would have had only one point to show for their efforts after three games.
Solksjaer took off Bruno Fernandes at half time, which was effectively conceding the game with United trailing 4-1 at the interval. The home side created little of note after the Portuguese star’s 2nd minute penalty, as shown by the xG figures for the game.
Awaiting United after the international break are Newcastle at St.James Park, and then a run of four tough fixtures- PSG away in the Champions League, Chelsea at home, Leipzig in the CL and Arsenal at Old Trafford.
United’s Champions League group has been tagged as the Group of Death and perhaps rightfully so- PSG were losing finalists last season, while Leipzig eliminated Tottenham and Atletico Madrid before bowing out in the semis. While Die Roten will be without Timo Werner, they still remain a strong force, and currently lead the Bundesliga heading into the international break.
In the 32 team CL tournament, United are only 10th favourites to win, and their current odds of 26.00 at Bet365- the longest of any of the four English teams in the competition, indicates how far their stock has fallen in Europe. However Solskjaer has shown that he can turn things around, as evinced by their showing in the second half of last season, and if you fancy the Red Devils to go far in the CL at those odds, this article from Wincomparator that explains how to get bet credits on Bet365 will come in quite handy in ensuring you get the best bang for your buck.
Solskjaer also has home advantage in three of those four games, but without crowd support, it doesn’t really mean much, as shown by Spurs’ demolition job at the Threatre of Dreams on Sunday. He has the fans’ support, but a string of poor results could force the board to look elsewhere, especially with Mauricio Pochettino available and willing to take the job.
One of Solskjaer’s criticisms is that he hasn’t really been able to improve his players. Indeed from the Spurs game, barring one or two, the rest of the starters haven’t grown their game at United despite the astronomical transfer fees paid to assemble the squad. Pochettino should be able to do better, and has shown that he can do so during his stint at Spurs, and that might see the board look to the Argentine if results don’t go their way later this month.