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Amid all his justified anger over his team’s “joke” of a match list, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer paused long enough to put his team’s performance in context.
“They were on their knees,” he said. “So, coming here after not coming back from Turkey until 5:00 am on Thursday and winning like this… well, that character is incredible. The mindset, the determination. Everything was there. “
He could have added that they did it against an Everton team that had worked all week on a uniquely equipped playbook to hurt them.
And against one of the best trainers in the world who knows exactly how to turn the knife.
He wouldn’t say it himself, but he could also have added that his Manchester United team wasn’t just on its knees from exhaustion.
(Image: Jon Super / REX / Shutterstock)
The pressure of his situation, and the incessant questions about his manager, have at times exposed a mental weakness.
It is not surprising.
If this victory showed anything, it is United’s almost schizophrenic character.
As he did shortly after a regrettable European performance on weekdays, he offers a stern comment on Solskjaer’s reign.
This is a coach who started in the Old Trafford hot seat with a loss at 17 but finished that season with two wins at 12.
The following season it was three wins in 12 to start, but only two losses in 25 at the end of last season.
They now have an unfortunate single point of 12 at home but nine of nine away.
There is one consistent thing on his side … his total inconsistency.
It wasn’t evident at Goodison.
Going a goal to a mere punt upward, and seeing his defense shattered by the mere presence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s aerial threat, was a danger signal that sounded like a horn.
(Image: POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
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Yet somehow United bounced back from that brutal exposure, somehow found some fluidity and scored two wonderfully simple goals to counter and then hold on, albeit fingertip, in a frenzied finish as Abdoulaye Doucoure I should have scored, and the visitors headed to the other end to finish the job.
That proved, to say the least, that Solskjaer has yet to lose his players.
They are still willing to fight for him, as he implied with his passionate comments afterwards.
“I cannot praise the boys enough for the character they have shown. It was important, ”he said.
“I like everything about my team. Since yesterday, we could see that they would not let anyone take anything when they treated us unfairly. Fair play, everyone gave their all, the mentality was incredible.
(Image: POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
Is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the root cause of Manchester United’s inconsistency? Give us your opinion here.
“Fernandes was brilliant. He’s a great character. Like everyone else, you could see the determination on the team. The mentality, even though at the end they were on their knees.
Fernandes, along with the equally impressive Marcus Rashford, made the difference, scoring a good header off a single Luke Shaw cross to level Bernard’s first goal, and then intervened when his attacking partner distracted Jordan Pickford.
But the brilliant United front concealed a worldliness in the rest of his game.
They weren’t even intimidated by Calvert-Lewin, sometimes they just ignored them. And aside from that routine Shaw crossover, their full backs don’t penetrate like modern full backs should.
There is not enough creativity outside of Fernandes and Rashford and that leads to inconsistency when the couple does not produce magic.
The concern is that training and tactics are not bringing out the best in a talented team. Those troubling statistics suggest it.
For Solskjaer, however, it is a matter of maturity, not training.
They are inconsistent because of workload, he said, but also because of concentration.
“If we can get this determination, mentality, tackle every game, it will be difficult to face us,” he said.
“You see all the tackles Scott and Fred were winning in the middle, we are tight, we are compact, we win the ball, we play, we have spaces, that’s how we want to see all these guys on time. We are very happy with that. “
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