Source:
https://scmp.com/sport/football/article/3113550/solskjaer-cant-afford-champions-league-disappointment-blow-man
Sport/ Football

Solskjaer can’t afford for Champions League disappointment to blow Man United’s Premier League form

  • United are in a strong position in the league, but can’t afford Champions League exit to knock on to domestic form as it did for Louis van Gaal a few years back
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer saw his side exit the Uefa Champions League earlier this week after a promising start. Photo: AFP

After Tuesday’s Uefa Champions League elimination, Manchester United have the difficult task of getting back on track in Saturday’s Manchester derby.

Emotions are high and the disappointment of the defeat to RB Leipzig cuts deep after a positive beginning in the group, especially after United started the game so poorly in Germany – a worrying recent trend. United keep going behind and have led at half-time in only six of their 18 games so far this season. What’s the point in having nine shots, scoring two and hitting the bar if you give opponents a quick two-goal lead, where almost all the players, including the best one, Bruno Fernandes, failed to press or track?

United’s players need to learn from such failures, learn from the experience of playing against the best since it’s no longer a team of winners, a team which reaches the latter stages of the Champions League season after season. United is a club which has made numerous mistakes in recent years from senior to junior recruitment to a lack of funding for the youth system. They have to learn from them and recruitment has improved, the mood among the players too.

The second tier Europa League is not where United want to be, but there’s no question of manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer being dismissed imminently. His club feel that his young team is making progress and that while there will be further bumps along the way, and further issues to resolve like Paul Pogba’s future, they are heading in the right direction.

A third win against City this year and his team will be seven points better off in the Premier League than after 11 games last season. United are scoring more goals and have picked up more league points than any club bar Liverpool since January.

United see no point in turning back and want to break the perception of the hire and fire cycle of the years after Alex Ferguson’s retirement which was leaving them with unbalanced teams with no clear identity. The team is showing signs of developing, there are young and exciting players, the youth academy is flush with talent brought from major European clubs before Brexit could impose limitations on recruitment.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has a number of issues to take care of at the club, not least the future of wantaway Paul Pogba. Photo: AFP
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has a number of issues to take care of at the club, not least the future of wantaway Paul Pogba. Photo: AFP

United beat Paris Saint-Germain away, they’ve beaten other top teams and they might have beaten RB again had they not started so badly – again. The players and the manager must take some blame for that and the pre-match talk of starting games well jars when United don’t do that, but what else can the manager and players say? “We hope to start as badly as last week because we’re failing to learn, have had insufficient time to prepare for this tactical system and we’re nervous about our goalkeeper. We’ll wake up at half time as we usually do.” Because that would be closer to the truth.

And yet United are moving towards being a team capable of winning titles and trophies. Granted United are well behind Liverpool and look far short of their level, yet if United win their game in hand against Burnley they’ll find themselves just two points behind their greatest rivals. Liverpool floundered while United reigned in the ’90s and noughties and United had to compete with Arsenal and then Chelsea. There’s more competition now.

All Premier League teams share the broadcasting spoils and top of the league Tottenham, who don’t win trophies, have a better stadium and training ground than United. The Mourinhistas in United’s fanbase would argue they have a better manager too, but no one can deny Mourinho’s final nine months in Manchester were awful. There are two sides to the story. While the Portuguese admitted that he should have been sacked at Old Trafford, he felt constrained and pressured to play Pogba, with whom he had a deteriorating relationship.

United still need strengthening: a forward beyond Edinson Cavani and a central defender. But the club needs first to move on the central defenders who don’t figure – Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones. Jesse Lingard, Sergio Romero, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata, Diogo Dalot, Andreas Periera and Eric Bailly are, for various reasons, unlikely to have a long-term United future under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United need a Sancho, Grealish or Haaland, all proven talents at the right age. United were never about to – and will not – pay 120 million for Sancho, but prices should drop with many clubs running on fumes. Remember Barcelona let four world class players go for a combined fee of 10 million in the summer to cut wages.

Louis van Gaal was the last United manager to oversee a loss to German opposition. United’s league form nose-dived after the loss. Photo: Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images
Louis van Gaal was the last United manager to oversee a loss to German opposition. United’s league form nose-dived after the loss. Photo: Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images

Saturday will be difficult for United. It’s rare that City are below them in the table, but their record at Old Trafford is a strong one. There’s no respite with at least two games per week for the foreseeable future. After United were last eliminated in the Champions League in Germany – by Wolfsburg in 2015 – the team crumbled and lost three more consecutive games against struggling Bournemouth, Norwich and Stoke. That was the beginning of the end for Louis van Gaal.

United’s run this month is tougher – City at home, Sheffield United away, old rivals Leeds at home, Leicester away and Wolves at home. This team wasn’t good enough to excel in the Champions League. Is it ready for what lies ahead in the Premier League?