Solskjaer’s hourglass
“And Solskjaer has won it!”
The timing of that goal. Forever engraved into the fulcrum of football history. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s impact from the bench during his time at Manchester United as a player was illustrious to say the least. It’s from the bench again where he is trying to reach previous glories that has long been overdue. This time as the manager of the club.
Twenty months have passed. Yet, the cake hasn’t been out of the oven. The complete judgement has to wait. It’s a mixed feeling while that cake is still inside.
3rd place finish. Three semi-finals, but while looking through the heated glassed separating you and that cake you can’t quite get what’s inside of it. It’s shape is ambiguous. Smell, not distinguished.
For all of Manchester United’s promising individuals, you can’t put pen on paper — or fingers on keyboard in my case — to fully explain how they operate. The problems initially were against teams who set up defensively against them. On the other hand, overcoming opponents who provided them space during counter-attacks.
There was a smell after the break, a distinguished one. The three at the back build up United used after the break showed a glimpse of something that could be built upon. But it felt like a stolen recipe out of a cook book with half of that page cut off. Games against Sheffield United, Norwich and Brighton illustrated how using that type of build up Manchester United managed to find Bruno Fernandes between the lines.
That was it. it stopped there. A couple of dynamic movements from the front line followed and then using Mason Greenwood further inside the pitch to present a passing option other than Bruno. Nothing that significant.
Dependency on individuality has reached its peak. Time passed and the results overshadowed the lack of an effective offensive game plan. At times it feels that Manchester United aren’t doing anything systematic going forward. That feeling persists despite all the goals and wins.
This works at times. It’s different to what the current crop of top managers in football believe in. Yet it can work. But can it work week in week out?
The inevitable question is; What happens when the individuality’s glow disappears? What happens when they face a collective strong enough to stop their individual brilliance? Or like against Sevilla, face an individual performance as good or better on the day.
Yassine Bounou’s three million APM (actions per minute) saw him making save after save. Something out of an ultra-hard video game level. The individual brilliance was matched. But what about the collective?
Sevilla’s chances weren’t as numerous nor as dangerous as United’s. They were based on an approach though. Just watch a couple of games for Sevilla and you’ll notice their frequent cross field switches to the winger-full back duo on the far side. It helps that they have the personnel as well. Who would you want playing that juicy cross field pass other than Ever Banega? Even better when Jesus Navas is on the receiving side, flying past Suso for the overlap.
That’s in addition of the full backs combinations with the wingers. Even the untrained eye can spot that. The men from the south of Spain have a distinctive way of play going forward. The collective
The collective that was in-front of the individual display that cancelled out that of Manchester United’s. So where’s Manchester United’s collective?
Taking a time machine out of Netflix’s Dark series we go back to the not so distant past. Chelsea in the semi-final of the FA Cup. The pressing scheme used by Frank Lampard made reaching Manchester United’s forwards an impossible task.
Solskjaer’s team couldn’t get out and by the second half a vertical pass from Brandon Williams fell for Mason Mount. The Chelsea midfielder advanced into space and his shot went past David De Gea.
The customer waiting for the cake isn’t in a hurry though. Solskjaer has been give time. In a fast paced managerial musical chairs, he has time. There is probability for improvement and for a change, giving a manager a chance could be right. It could also be wrong. Time will tell.
The addition of Jadon Sancho — if it happens — will definitely improve the quality at Manchester United. The Borussia Dortmund player has been racking up numbers like a digital stopwatch at an athletics field. The issue is that it feels like Manchester United are filling the collective scars with big ass bandages rather than going to the doctor.
The numbers on the cheques are typically high for these type of players. Usually in European currencies, but the most valuable of currencies is time. Can Solskjaer use the time off along with his gang of Mike Phelan, Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna to find an offensive structure that suits his shiny diamonds up front?
Time might not be on his side at the end of next season if the cake doesn’t have a distinguish taste as well.
And time ticks-ticks away.
