Reprieve For United

If you are Ole In or Out, this article will not convince you to think otherwise. That is not what the purpose of this article is. I recognise that whichever side of the fence you sit on, you are convinced why you should be where you are. It’s a shame that fans of a club are split like that but most importantly, everyone should always be Manchester United In.

Big Relief Win

For that reason, we should enjoy United’s convincing 3–0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. After some poor performances that culminated in a humiliating defeat to our arch-rivals, Liverpool, having our faces rubbed in mud by their supporters and turmoil around the future of our manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, this should be a welcome relief and departure from the doom and gloom.

Safety-First Approach

In the days leading up to the match, I was joking that players who were clearly so poor and off-form like Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Scott McTominay and Fred will start this match and true enough they did. It’s remarkable after a performance like that, all four would start but I am not surprised. Solskjaer has repeatedly shown his lack of faith in all the players in his squad and by now we know who his favourites are. In the hours leading to the match, my friend called it that we would play with 5 defenders and he did. It’s become so easy to predict what he would do. It’s logical that with his job on the line, he would revert to a safety-first approach. Contrary to what he would like others to believe, tactically, Solskjaer is at his best when he sets up the team to counter-attack just like Jose Mourinho minus the nastiness and the winning mentality.

Good Week Spent In Training

At this point, I would like to give him credit for spending a whole week on the training ground very well to prepare for this match. He got the tactics right and thankfully changed it from the 4–2–3–1 that was porous. For a change, it was exciting to see a gold-old strike partnership in the form of Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani. We were well-organised and counter-attacked very well. Once again, when the pressure built up around Solskjaer, he managed to escape the kiss of death.

Strong Characters & Personalities

It was a welcome boost to have Raphael Varane back and he made a big difference. The team was under immense pressure and in such circumstances, if a team is to get out of the situation, they need strong characters and personalities. United had them in the form of Varane at the back, Bruno Fernandes in centre midfield and Cristiano Ronaldo and Cavani upfront. The experience and mentality they brought into the team were priceless. It helped as well that United played against a team that was equally short on confidence and poor on form.

Same Issues Persist

As pleasant and comforting as this victory might be, the same issues persist. Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw had a better game in defence although, in Maguire’s case, you could argue that he was aided by the presence and calmness of Varane next to him, an additional central defender in the form of Lindelof and two defensive midfielders in Fred and McTominay. I can’t imagine how Maguire is still the captain of the team when there are stronger leaders and characters in this team now. In Solskjaer’s eyes, Maguire is Franco Baresi or Franz Beckenbauer.

In terms of quality, Fred and McTominay were as good as their Tottenham counterparts which doesn’t say a lot, to be honest. The difference was made by the quality of the third central midfielder, Bruno Fernandes. When Fernandes plays as he did yesterday, without trying too hard, he is top quality. Fred was his usual self, misplacing passes and poor control of the possession of the ball. McTominay was better than his partner and I have always rated him higher; he had a range of passing, broke up play and looked to go forward to join the attack. When it got to 2–0, Solskjaer made another defensive decision to shut up shop by sacrificing Fernandes for Nemanja Matic. Shaw looked a lot more at home and secure as the left wing-back as did Aaron Wan Bissaka on the opposite flank.

At least in this system and formation, the team looks a lot more secure, organised and they all know what is required of them. I suspect we would see this same formation against Atalanta in midweek too and possibly against Manchester City next week. The problem with playing in this way is that it is not a solution for playing against teams that defend deep in numbers and are looking to counter-attack. Against better teams, we will also get punished because of the quality of some players in the selection; favouritism will kill Solskajer one day. In this formation, I fear for Jadon Sancho. It’s inexplicable that the club would chase someone for so long, pay big money for him and then don’t use him. These are some issues that need to be resolved no matter how convincing that win was.

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