Manchester United are increasingly likely to sack Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at some point soon with games against Chelsea and Arsenal coming up after the international break.
Solskjaer surprisingly kept his job after the 5-0 humiliation to Liverpool at Old Trafford but an equally worse performance in the Manchester derby against local rivals Man City on Saturday has heaped even more pressure onto the Norwegian with his position looking more and more untenable as the days go on.
Our sister publication the Manchester Evening News (MEN) have reported that the club legend is still on borrowed time as United manager but the hierarchy at Old Trafford will only make a change if an obvious replacement comes up in the near future, as they have now lost out on Antonio Conte to Spurs.
Despite all this pressure talk, Man United’s legendary striker is confident that he can turn around the current vein of form that has seen United pick up a mere four points from the last 15 available in the Premier League.
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He said via the MEN when asked if he could salvage what was supposed to be a title-challenging season for the club: “Definitely. And you’re right, back to where we should be, for me it’s about back to what we started to look like, we started to look a proper team, we started to look like a team I like to see. We’ve had three or four weeks now of a disappointing spell.
“The result and performance against Tottenham was good but it’s not what we want to look like, to put it that way. We want to be on the front foot and more aggressive. But unfortunately, we’ve had to try and get a few good results. We got a couple against Atalanta and Tottenham but today was a big step back.”
He then added regarding his personal commitment to the cause: “I have good communication with the club all the time which is up front and honest. I work for Man United, I want the best for Man United. As long as I am here I want to improve this.”
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Ralph Ragnick and Brendan Rodgers are two options that are being pondered by Ed Woodward and co. but it doesn’t seem as though a change is imminent with Watford up next in the league for Man Utd.
Victory against Claudio Ranieri’s side could then see 48-year-old survive the axe once again which could benefit Chelsea and Arsenal, who both play United in the coming month.
This change in stance could be worrying for fans alike of the west Londoners and north Londoners who have made their feelings well known about wanting to see Ole remain at the wheel for their upcoming clashes against United.
A victory on their travels against Watford now appears imperative if Solskjaer were to make the Chelsea fixture on November 28 and the Arsenal game a few days later on December 2, with the current gap to leaders Chelsea standing at nine points.
However, with Dean Smith at Aston Villa and Norwich’s Daniel Farke both losing their jobs over the weekend – despite the latter accumulating more points (five) in his last five league games than Solskjaer (four points), there is still a possibility that change may be on the horizon for the 13-time Premier League Champions over the final international break of 2021.
