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Following his team’s capitulation to Tottenham earlier this month, it was no surprise that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer decided that changes were needed at Manchester United.
There was no yelling or yelling at the end of his worst day in football, a 6-1 Premier League record loss at Old Trafford. Just a silent realization that there had to be a reorganization of formations and personnel.
The change was being imposed on the United manager anyway. The unique demands of the 2020-21 season mean that Solskjaer could no longer rely so much on the same players and systems when games are intense and fast.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s restructuring has helped Manchester United relive their bad season
But he also realized that it was time to be more flexible with his favorite formation and established the first XI.
Aside from Eric Bailly, replacing Victor Lindelof, the Spurs thrashed team was the same lineup that Solskjaer started in five of the nine league games after the restart. In the other four games, changes were kept to a minimum.
Paul Scholes said this week that the game against Tottenham would have scared his old teammate and he was probably right.
United suffered a heavy loss at home to Tottenham, but have been on a roll since then.
“I think any result as brutal as 6-1 would have to get a response,” Solskjaer acknowledged on Friday.
Of course, it has been dealt with internally. We have changed a couple of things, we have fit players and I think the form of that loss was not something we should have to face again.
“Things happen in football these days, but the response has been fantastic. That’s what worries me, because we wanted to get that over with as soon as we could and move on. ‘
That response has brought victories over Newcastle, Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig, scoring 11 goals in the process, as well as last weekend’s standoff with Chelsea.
The team’s response has brought recent victories over Newcastle, PSG and now RB Leipzig
Solskjaer has been through a tough run of matches in much better health before Sunday’s meeting with Arsenal at Old Trafford since reaching the international break after the Tottenham debacle and looked quite vulnerable.
There is still a long way to go. United are 15th in the early season standings, having failed to win any of their first three league games at home for the first time in 38 years.
But it appears Solskjaer has a lot more strings on his bow as he marks his 100th game in command.
Most of the time, you used to be able to predict formation and lineup. Now it is much more difficult to say which United will appear.
Solskjaer will score his 100th match in charge at Old Trafford and has more strings on his bow
On Wednesday night Donny van de Beek impressed on top of a midfield diamond against Leipzig with Paul Pogba more comfortable pushing forward on the left. A week earlier, Solskjaer placed Axel Tuanzebe in a back-three and gave Alex Telles his debut as a left-back in Paris.
They remained at their 4-2-3-1 favorite against Newcastle and Chelsea, but there are no guarantees that they will do so again on Sunday. There are multiple options in defense and midfield, and Edinson Cavani now offers a different kind of threat in attack.
“At the moment, we look like a Manchester United team,” Solskjaer said. ‘I have opportunities and competition for places. Any successful team in the modern era has had the option of resting players, rotating, and that’s probably the only way you can last in the most intense league in the world. ‘
United against Arsenal has always been intense, but Solskjaer agrees that he will feel different this weekend, even more so in an empty Old Trafford.
The days personified by Sir Alex Ferguson’s feud with Arsene Wenger, Roy Keane’s battles with Patrick Vieira, and flying pizza are sadly no more. “When I was playing, it was between us and Arsenal to win the league, so it was a very fierce rivalry,” added Solskjaer.
The United manager agrees that the clash with Arsenal will take on a strange feeling on empty ground
‘There are all kinds of stories about what happened. That is the passion, the emotion, the importance of those games.
‘We knew that if we take six points away from them we would be winning the league, more or less, and vice versa.
“Arsenal are always going to be difficult because they are a very good team with a very good coach who has great ideas about how football should be played.
‘I’m surprised it’s 100 games. Hopefully we can celebrate with a good performance and result. ‘
