Manchester United fired Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for poor results

Bad results and lack of play condemned Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, ceased this Sunday as manager of Manchester United, where he assumed the position on an interim basis, although he never fully established himself in the Old Trafford bank.

“Ole will forever remain a Manchester United legend and it is with pain that we have made this difficult decision,” the Premier League club wrote in a statement, specifying that he will be Solskjaer’s deputy, Michael Carrick, who will lead the team on an interim basis in the next matches.

Solskjaer could not bear the degradation of his team’s game since mid-September, who lived at his lowest point with the humiliating defeat at Old Trafford (5-0) against historic rival Liverpool, on October 24.

A blow to the club’s waterline that revealed the lack of a defined game idea after Solskjaer’s two and a half seasons at the helm.

The humiliating defeat (4-1) on Saturday at Watford, 17th before the game, was the last straw. The Norwegian leaves the team in seventh position in the Premier, twelve points behind leaders Chelsea.

Zinedine Zidane, who won three Champions League with Real Madrid, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Varane in his ranks, is the favorite to succeed Solskjaer in the bookmakers. The names of Leicester coach Brendan Rodgers and Ajax coach Erik ten Hag are also ringing.

No game … and no titles

Come to succeed José Mourinho, who left a club unmotivated and without unity, Solskjaer managed to improve the results, reaching the final of the Europa League and achieving the runner-up in the Premier last season.

Solskjaer started with 14 games without knowing the defeat, which convinced the club management to confirm it in the position, although the team lowered the level in the final part of the course to finish in sixth place, the same position he occupied when he arrived.

His amiable character also contrasted with the strong personalities associated with United history, such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Louis van Gaal, Mourinho on the bench, or Eric Cantona and Roy Keane on the pitch.

But it is no less true that when he signed as a player he also managed to dispel doubts, not in vain was he the author of the decisive goal in the 1999 Champions League final at the Camp Nou against Bayern Munich (2-1).

Solskjaer pacified the club, restored confidence to the group but failed in what is most required of a coach at those levels: the titles.

Undisputed human qualities

The Norwegian coach can boast of 19 consecutive games without defeat between March and July 2020, which allowed United to reach the podium (3rd), and of the 14 unbeaten in the Premier last season to finish behind champion City.

Thanks to his unanimously recognized human qualities, managed better than anyone at United the unpredictable Paul Pogba and protected young homegrown players like Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood.

With Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan Bissaka, Donny van de Beek, Jadon Sancho, Raphaël Varane, and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo, the club did not hesitate to invest and make available to the coach a luxury squad to be able to compete with Chelsea, City or Liverpool on all fronts.

But the titles did not arrive, and even the classification to the next Champions seems complicated. Solskjaer had survived in office the past few weeks in part because of the absence of a solid replacement.

But his credit was exhausted with the last apathetic games of his team, which seemed to have lowered its arms in resignation, so the management decided to take a turn. (D)