If Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was looking for respite from the calls to sack him then he did not get it in the Manchester derby last weekend.
Visitors Manchester City dominated from the first to the last and the 2-0 scoreline did not reflect the dominance of the win, which many have said was worse than the 5-0 rout to Liverpool in the previous English Premier League home game at Old Trafford.
Defeat in the derby also dented United’s hopes of finishing in the UEFA Champions League places this season, where they now sit in sixth, five points off Liverpool in fourth.
“We have to speak less and do more,” Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes told Sky Sports after the defeat.
“I am saying the same stuff. We have to change because this has happened many, many times already. What we did was not enough.”
“If we want to be at the same level as them we have to do more because they showed we are not at the same level,” Fernandes continued.
“Everyone has to look at themselves. You have to look in the mirror at what you are doing wrong. You cannot change the mentality of anyone else, you have to look at yourself and understand what you can do better.”
Despondent
The man in charge was as despondent following the derby defeat.
“It’s very difficult to talk now, of course, because we started the game off badly, passive and when they get the first goal, it was always going to be a difficult game anyway, but being 1-0 down was hard,” said Solskjaer after the chastening loss to Pep Guardiola’s champions.
“David [De Gea] kept us in the game, some good stops and then they scored a goal they always score. [Joao] Cancelo cuts inside, cross [to the] back-stick that we know that’s going to happen and it shouldn’t happen. It’s disappointing, of course.
“It’s hard to talk at the moment. We play against a good team, don’t forget that, but we were nowhere near what our standards and levels can be and that’s something we have to get back to.”
Solskjaer spoke for everyone at the club when he spoke of the feeling of disappointment after United had responded to the Liverpool defeat with a win away to Tottenham Hotspur.
“It’s very disappointing. Last week it felt like we made a step forward, this is a big step backwards,” Solskjaer said.
“It is a way of losing we don’t like. You want to see a better Man Utd than that. We have had a four-week period where we have been disappointing. We want to be on the front foot and we want to be aggressive. This was a big step back.
“Players are human beings. When you lose a game there is nothing better than winning a game. We have to come out against Watford like a proper, hurt animal. The international break has come at a good time for us.”
The international break has seen Solskjaer jet off with his family to his native Norway, a decision that has come under scrutiny from a number of fans.
Cristiano Ronaldo (right) of Manchester United is outjumped by John Stones of Manchester City during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford on November 6 in Manchester, England. Photo: VCG
There are plenty of problems that need to be solved, not least imposing some kind of identity on the side.
“I look at our team every week and wonder what we are going to do, tactically,” said former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand on his Vibe with Five YouTube show.
“I don’t see any philosophy or an identity in the United way of playing, whatever that should be from the management. I sit here confused looking at the team.”
Ferdinand – a former teammate of Solskjaer at Old Trafford – has been a supporter of the manager but even he is having his doubts following the meek loss to Manchester City, though he believed that the manager has moved the club on from when he took over in December 2018.
“From where he came in to where he got us at the beginning of this season, I think it’s positive,” said Ferdinand on his YouTube show.
“When you look at it like that with the summer transfer window we had, we were all sitting here excited, thinking ‘this is where we’re meant to be.’
“I go back to the point. Ole was brought in with the remit to get us back to a point, a moment where you think he’s brought some foundation back. At the beginning of this season we were thinking ‘yes, that’s it.'”
“I was always deep down a bit skeptical. Could he take us on to be champions? I wasn’t sure, I wasn’t fully convinced, but hoped he would be able to do that.
“But the showing with the squad he accumulated to the beginning of this season and what I’ve seen this season, I just feel that maybe it might be the time now for the baton to be handed over to someone else who can take us on.”
The big question is who can do that, with reports suggesting that none of the owning Glazer family’s first-choice candidates are available midway through the season.
Unless an interim candidate can be found then Solskjaer will stay in the dugout barring a run of form that leaves them unable to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League – the bare minimum for the board.
Still he has to find a way to solve what seem like obvious problems, including a weakness from set pieces and a long-standing question over the midfield.
Solskjaer has reportedly considered playing new signing Jadon Sancho as a wing-back as the Old Trafford side look to create more chances than current right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka offers. Both City and Liverpool have shown the importance of attacking fullbacks.
Playing a marquee signing out of position would appear to be a last throw of the dice, but that is where Solskjaer and United are.
