Man Utd's thrilling win another example of consistent inconsistency which Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must stamp out

Lessons being learned? Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Manchester United via Getty Imag

What happens at Burnley is anyone’s guess. And that’s precisely the problem with Manchester United.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got the response he was looking for after the humbling at Watford. A 4-1 win was United’s biggest in the Premier League since the opening day of the season – and leaves them just four points adrift of the top four with one game remaining before the turn of the year.

Marcus Rashford is turning into the prolific goal-scorer United desperately hoped he would. In Mason Greenwood they have one of the brightest attacking prospects in Europe. And Paul Pogba is back.

Yet no one, but no one, could look ahead to Saturday’s trip to Turf Moor with any kind of confidence about what to expect. If anything, Burnley will fancy their chances.

Sean Dyche will believe he can frustrate a United side that never looks entirely comfortable in possession; that still blows hot and cold – and might have been put to bed by Newcastle before they mounted their rousing comeback.

Even then, Steve Bruce was right to bemoan his side’s generosity at Old Trafford.

“I know it’s Christmas, but we’ve gifted them,” said the Newcastle manager. “I just think it was a bad equaliser. A worse second one. A poor third one. A ridiculous fourth one."

To United’s credit, they were clinical in punishing every mistake by their hapless visitors – which has not always been the case.

Anthony Martial had one of those games where he looks every bit the world-class centre forward United thought they were buying from Monaco back in 2015.

Rashford produced his best impression of Cristiano Ronaldo with a ‘hang time’ headed goal – and Greenwood’s vicious dipping strike from 25 yards further enhanced the reputation of a player who must be creeping into Gareth Southgate’s plans for next summer’s Euros. ]

So commanding was United’s lead that Solskjaer was happy to play the remaining 20 minutes without Martial or Rashford, while Daniel James was an unused substitute.

This was an example of the thrilling potential United have when in full flow.

In Pictures | Man Utd vs Newcastle | 26/12/2019

1/23

The type of attacking flair that produced such morale-boosting wins against Tottenham and Manchester City.

But on too many occasions those strengths give way to the type of listless performance that saw them limp to defeat at Vicarage Road.

If that result was in isolation, it could be forgiven. But it was repeated at West Ham, Newcastle, Bournemouth – and for 70 minutes at Sheffield United.

Draws at home to Aston Villa and Everton mean nothing can be taken for granted where this Jekyll and Hyde side are concerned.

Solskjaer spoke in his programme notes of lessons being learned at Watford.

“The first half showed us what happens when there isn’t enough tempo or urgency about our play,” he wrote.

Seriously?

As young as this transitional United team is, there are surely basics that should be a given for any professional footballer.

Surely you shouldn’t have to keep reminding them? Solskjaer was asked.

“You might be right,” was his far from convincing answer.

And as much as the score-line suggested lessons had been learned – for 20 minutes United were flying by the seat of their pants, with Matty Longstaff firing Newcastle ahead and Dwight Gayle blasting over the bar when one-on-one with David de Gea.

To say they rode their luck is an understatement – which is why Dyche will believe he can pile the pressure on Solskjaer and ease a certain amount on his own shoulders.

Those wins against Spurs and City have taken on greater significance with each dropped point.

Coming in between draws against Sheffield United, Villa and Everton, as well as defeat to Watford – they’ve looked absolutely vital in deflecting what might have been unbearable scrutiny on Solskjaer’s ability to do the job.

The jury is still out on that one.

It is over the next couple weeks when we will see if United really are turning a corner after such a turbulent campaign.

Games against Burnley, Arsenal and then Wolves in the FA Cup will provide something of a litmus test.

This was a good start.

But as Bruce so succinctly put it, in football, patience is in limited supply.

“It’s obvious they are still in a transitional period,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of young, attacking flair, that’s for sure.

“But with the way football is today, it’s very, very difficult to build something overnight.

“So unfortunately they are going to have to be a little bit more patient for a while, but they have put certain things in place and I wish Ole the best of luck.”

Solskjær just wishes he’d know which team would turn up from one week to the next.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT