As Ole Gunnar Solskjaer celebrates a year as Manchester United’s full-time manager, Alex Keble looks at how he’s slowly changing opinions at Old Trafford.
United were scheduled to play Tottenham the weekend the Premier League was suspended due to the coronavirus crisis, and that robbed Solskjaer of making another statement that he may yet be the man for the long term despite receiving plenty of criticism during his time as permanent manager.
The game would also arguably cast a shining light on the differences in performance and mood at the respective clubs, with United seemingly moving in the right direction with Solskjaer while Jose Mourinho is struggling.
Only now Manchester United are back on an upswing, unbeaten in five and closing in on Champions League qualification, has it emerged that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s man-management skills are unfairly overlooked; hidden beneath the more pertinent critique of the tactical malaise at Old Trafford.
In hindsight, throughout the difficult 12 months that followed United’s famous win in Paris the players have looked motivated, if a little lost, invested in their manager if unconvinced by the long-term strategy.
This is also revealed by its absence elsewhere, by the stark difference between how United dealt with crisis and how Tottenham Hotspur are consumed by their own angst. Without a containing figurehead to hold them together Spurs are flapping about, infected by the anxiety that leaks out of Jose Mourinho at every turn. It is easy to spiral when the person in charge focuses entirely on self-preservation, seemingly unaware of the message it sends: of isolationism, of pessimism, and of fear.
And his response – to an injury crisis and poor form - has been entirely unjustified in its severity, conveying the sense he is permanently locked in third-season syndrome, consumed by the belief the world is against him. It is no way to manage a team of people.
Injuries are indeed taking their toll, but that is equally true at Chelsea, Arsenal, and Man Utd, all of whom have gone several months of the season without star players. Liverpool losing their first-choice goalkeeper has cost them dearly, but Jurgen Klopp has not chosen to draw focus to Alisson Becker’s absence. More damning still, Mourinho’s decision to throw Tanguy Ndombele under the bus threatens to ostracise the manager from the rest of the squad.
But the most revealing moment, and a glimpse at the nucleus of the problem, was Mourinho telling reporters he wished the current season was over. It would appear he no longer has the patience or the hunger for the tough moments, for the uphill slog that – most of the time – is the day-to-day of being a football manager. Mourinho is giving into the temptations that come with age, prestige, wealth, and comfort: resting on your laurels. Relaxing. Arsene Wenger-ing.
And the fall could be particularly hard for Mourinho precisely because he looms so large in the collective consciousness. Mourinho’s siege-mentality requires belief in its magic to work. If the mask has slipped, if we’re already alarmed he is in ‘third-season’ mode, then it will be so. The upshot being that Tottenham’s players already look bereft of confidence, unable to believe the club is moving in the right direction.
Where Spurs’ midfielders are hiding from the ball – and publically shamed by the manager for doing so – United never really shrank when times were tough, but rather probed erratically, without an obvious plan but happy to improvise. The dramatic improvements made by Anthony Martial, Fred, Luke Shaw, and Marcus Rashford speak to confidence, perhaps showing the behind-the-scenes effect of Solkjaer’s incessant romanticising of the club’s glorious pedigree. We might have found it grating, but the players, it seems, did not.
Whatever the reason for United’s contentment, the contrast between their emotional state and that of Tottenham could hardly be starker. That alone was enough to predict three points for the visitors from the game that never happened due to the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis in the UK just before the game was meant to take place.
As we take stock of how the season may yet still unfold, when this game is eventually played Solskjaer could well have the tactical edge.
United’s preference for playing on the counter-attack (an indirect consequence of Solksjaer cramming ‘pace and power’ into the team in a misguided attempt to play like 1990s Man Utd) has given them the perfect template for ‘Big Six’ matches. They would happily sit back and absorb pressure, forcing Spurs into the sort of lifeless possession that comes from Mourinho’s improvisational mantra on attacking lines.
The lack of confidence in the Spurs team only exacerbates this issue, suggesting United’s resilient back four would hold them at arm’s length, while their on-going defensive problems would make them vulnerable to the visitor’s breaks.
Anthony Martial, splitting out to the left, could dominate the error-prone Serge Aurier in a one-on-one, plus the clumsiness of Spurs’ central defensive partnership would open them up to Bruno Fernandes’s distribution and the pace of Daniel James in behind.
But even putting to one side the specific tactical battles of a match between the two - the overarching theme is the positions Mourinho and Solskjaer hold at their respective clubs.
Spurs are hesitant, separate, and clumsy. They were second to every ball, and an easy target for a club like Man Utd - playing with a conviction, and purpose, that forces us to reconsider whether Solskjaer is indeed the right man to lead them forward.
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