It's Champions League or bust for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to keep the Man United job

Aditya Devavrat 17:38 04/01/2019
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  • Solskjaer has got his strikers firing.

    Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has achieved something at Manchester United that not even Sir Alex Ferguson could. In fact, only one other manager has won his first four league games at United, and they named a street after Sir Matt Busby.

    Nobody’s quite suggesting an Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Road to intersect with Sir Matt Busby Way outside Old Trafford – though put the idea to United fans on Twitter, and it may actually get some traction, so giddy has the Norwegian’s start to his tenure made everyone connected to the club.

    But ever so slowly, there is gathering talk that the caretaker label applied to Solskjaer’s title should be removed.

    He was asked the question on Wednesday, after the side’s 2-0 win over Newcastle, whether he would want to leave at the end of the season, once his interim deal runs out. For someone who has previously said managing the club where he played for eleven seasons, and became a club legend after scoring the goal that won the 1999 Champions League final and sealed that season’s famous Treble, was a dream, the answer was unsurprising.

    “Of course I won’t, I don’t want to,” Solskjaer said.

    “It’s such a great bunch of players, a fantastic atmosphere, but it’s the next game, it’s the next game, it’s the next game and I’m doing my job as long as I’m here.”

    It is an open secret that United want Mauricio Pochettino as their next permanent manager. His Tottenham side play attacking, exhilarating football, and the Argentine has done an excellent job of developing and empowering a young core.

    So far, on admittedly limited evidence, it seems Solskjaer has the same attributes.

    Anthony Martial and especially Marcus Rashford have thrived under the new manager, after struggling at times under predecessor Jose Mourinho. The attacking trio of Martial, Rashford, and Jesse Lingard have combined to provide a fluid attack that United have been missing since Ferguson retired.

    Paul Pogba looks like a man reborn. Romelu Lukaku has scored two goals in two appearances under Solskjaer. Even Nemanja Matic, a Mourinho loyalist and favourite, looks a much better player after the managerial change.

    Of course, playing well for four games against sides in the bottom half of the Premier League means little, even taking into account the positivity that Solskjaer has brought to the club and the players.

    So what is good enough for Solskjaer to make his case?

    Top four? United were eight points behind Arsenal and Chelsea when the 45-year-old took over. The gap to Arsenal is down to three points, and the Red Devils finally made inroads against the fourth-placed Blues on Wednesday when Maurizio Sarri’s side drew against Southampton, leaving United just six points behind.

    Making up an eight-point gap to Chelsea over half a season would certainly be an achievement for Solskjaer. Enough to convince the board to hire him long-term? Probably not.

    FA Cup? A trophy would be nice, and would definitely be a feather in the former striker’s cap. Pochettino doesn’t have one of those, yet.

    But when winning it in 2016 wasn’t enough to save Louis van Gaal’s job, it probably won’t be enough for Solskjaer, either, though the mood around the club would be different this time around.

    Overturning a 19-point gap to arch-rivals Liverpool and winning the Premier League would guarantee his job safety. It’s also a miracle that isn’t going to happen.

    Winning the Champions League would possibly be just as miraculous, but at least there’s some possibility it could happen. United look overmatched in their Round of 16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain. If Solskjaer can get his charges to pull off an upset against Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, and company, though, they’ll be in the quarter-finals, and then anything can happen.

    Roberto di Matteo did do something similar in 2012, taking over when Chelsea were 3-1 down in their Round of 16 tie against Napoli. The side overturned the deficit, then beat Benfica, Barcelona and Bayern Munich en route to a historic triumph.

    The parallels are there – Di Matteo was also a beloved Chelsea figure due to his playing career at the club. And if the similarities are clear, then there’s also a warning: the Italian did little for the Blues’ league campaign that season, as they finished sixth, and then was sacked just three months into the following season following a poor run of results.

    But winning Europe’s biggest trophy would nonetheless make it impossible for United to move on from Solskjaer immediately after.

    So, there’s the impossible task in front of the Norwegian. Win the Champions League, otherwise wait until we need a manager again.

    Fortunately for him, Solskjaer has experience in producing European miracles.

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