WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Let’s be honest, it was time for Ole Gunnar Solskjær to deliver from the day he took over from José Mourinho as manager of Manchester United. If he had been many people who aren’t Ole Gunnar Solskjær then he would have been shown the door long ago.

The debit side of his account whilst in charge at United, which may be of interest to future potential employers, includes the signing of several, (reportedly), world-class players at a cost of nearly £400 million. The losing of three domestic semi-finals, one European semi-final and one European final. It also includes many strange team selections, tactical formations and substitutions or, in the case of the latter, lack of substitutions.

He has now been in charge for three years and has won, as everybody is aware, precisely nothing.

Ever optimistic supporters point to the ‘progress’ being made under Solskjær but, as is often the case, biased United fans are struggling to see the wood because the trees keep getting in the way.

Whilst we admit that improving a team is indeed progress we would also point out that an improved team should be winning more trophies than the previous manager, which isn’t the case, and achieving a higher league position than the previous manager which also isn’t the case.

During his short time at United José Mourinho won two domestic trophies and a Europa League. Solskjær, as reported earlier, with his ‘improved’ team has won nothing.

Will his recent signings make the difference? Raphael Varane is certainly an upgrade on Victor Lindelof and Jadon Sancho looks to be a decent long-term purchase. Harry Maguire now looks the part of both captain and commanding centre back whilst Edinson Cavani on a free transfer was an excellent piece of business.

There are still question marks over the likes of Alex Telles who can’t get in the team other than for meaningless games and doesn’t look anywhere near the level of Luke Shaw.

Dan James appears to be an experiment gone wrong. An example of what happens when scouts, now used to watching Real Madrid and Inter Milan level players, are asked to do their real job and then fail abysmally because their lower league knowledge is non-existent.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka is decent at tackling but his positional sense is awful as is his ability, or lack of, going forward.

The purchase of Donny Van De Beek is still an enigma. He can’t get in the team due to the manager’s stubborn insistence on playing Fred and McTominay in most games. In fact his penchant for so many defensive minded players in his team is annoying for the fans, particularly when playing at Old Trafford against opponents in the bottom half of the table.

Van De Beek should be given a run of games or he should be sold. It appears he is gambling on outlasting the manager, a gamble which, if Solskjær has yet another trophy-less season, will almost certainly pay off.

The signing which has definitely been a big success is that of Bruno Fernandes who has single-handedly transformed a top ten team into a top four team.

Now the hope and expectation is that those two latest signings and maybe one more will turn United into a title winning team. It certainly needs to happen soon because winning a trophy already won by Louis Van Gaal or José Mourinho, or finishing in a position the same or lower than Mourinho, is neither progress nor improvement and should see the Norwegian finally advised to find a job nearer to his level.