WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Ole Gunnar Solskjær is trying to assemble a big jigsaw at Manchester United. He doesn’t yet have all the pieces but he is beginning to get a clearer idea of what is needed.

The bigger problem would appear to be that he doesn’t have the box lid! You know, the bit with the picture on it so you have an idea what the finished article is supposed to look like. So he is trying to put pieces in here and there without really knowing if they fit and this becomes evident during matches where his substitutions, in particular, remain questionable.

For example, against Norwich he started a weakened team and, at 1-0 up and needing a second for security purposes, he made his first substitutions. This was in the 57th minute and he brought on Rashford, Greenwood and Williams.

It was a positive move bearing in mind that he left Ighalo on the pitch and showed his desire to try and score more, but why did he wait so long? At present there are 5 changes allowed in three stages so there was also no rush to bring on three subs.

What the changes also achieved was an element of confusion and all of this led to Norwich’s best spell of the game during which they equalised. United now had two left backs on the pitch although Williams did play on the right and looked reasonably comportable doing so. Greenwood also played on the right but was largely ineffective and struggled to get into the game.

Despite having FOUR strikers on the pitch, United needed Harry Maguire to show them how it’s done!

Later in the game Pogba and Matić came on and, in extra time, Martial entered the fray. So, up front United now had Martial, Greenwood, Rashford and Ighalo and so the inevitable happened. Yep, Harry Maguire scored the winner!

Had Norwich not had a player sent off and had they been more clinical with their finishing then the result could have been very different.

This was the perfect example of Solskjær having all the pieces available, knowing the result he wanted to achieve but not having any clue, (or guidance from Curly, Larry or Mo on the bench a mere 2 metres away), of how to construct the victory. Ikea without instructions is how Solskjær’s modus operandi could be described. When it all comes together it can look very good but, when it doesn’t, it’s a mess!

One of the questions also raised from this narrow win is, “why start with a weakened team?”

This was an FA Cup quarter final, away, against another Premier League team. Granted it is highly unlikely that Norwich will still be a Premier League team next season but this just made the decision all the more questionable.

Surely it would make more sense to start with the strongest team, the idea being to get 2 or 3 goals ahead and then make substitutions to give players a break if necessary. By the end of this game, (which included extra time), United had their strongest team on the pitch and, because they chased a winner for an hour or so, they looked exhausted!

Somebody needs to give Ole the box lid!

And finally…..

Just in case you were holidaying on Jupiter when the news broke, Liverpool and VAR have won the Premier League title.

What happened to the days when celebrating just meant having a drink?

“Fans” immediately set about celebrating by torching the Liver building, stabbing each other and generally laying to waste everything around Anfield.

The “unbiased” media managed to gloss over all this and every channel told us what a fantastic achievement this win was. Obviously far more of an achievement than when Leicester City or Blackburn Rovers won the Premiership against all odds. All of this because Liverpool had a 30 years wait in between titles.

As Liam Gallagher said, “when City won their first title in 34 years or United won their first in 26 I don’t remember the supporters stabbing each other or setting fire to buildings.”

As we always say class is permanent and some fans just don’t have any!