When Jose Mourinho had continuously grumpily gone through the entire first part of the 2018/19 season and ended with his sacking just before Christmas, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was brought back as a substitute to bring the feel-good factor back to Old Trafford. This came immediately, as did the results. With 14 wins in 19 games, the United management gave their striker legend the permanent job. Now Michael Carrick is on his way to the same.
When Carrick got the job as interim Man Utd coach after Amorim was sacked, the feel-good factor also returned after the chaos and rollercoaster ride with Ruben Amorim’s formation. Here, too, the victories came in a row. Critics quickly came on the scene and barked that Manchester United should not make the “Solskjaer mistake”.
READ: The best Manchester United goalkeeper of all time wants former Arsenal captain to Old Trafford
With a Champions League ticket secured and Michael Carrick on course to get the permanent job as United manager, the warning to repeat the “Solskjaer blunder” is repeated.
One of the critical voices comes from former Premier League striker Troy Deeney.
-I still don’t know what kind of style of play they have, are they an aggressive team on the front line, are they a team with low blocking and back? I don’t know, because every week they change. Their performances haven’t been fantastic, they’ve had good performances against Arsenal and City, but they haven’t had solid performances.” “We have seen this before from the club with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He gets everyone up, I think Ole ended up in second place. Then you give him the job, 18 months later you fire him because he is not the person to take you further. What is the difference with Carrick? I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone knows,” Deeney told CBS Sports.
United in Focus does not accept that Solskjaer is referred to with a negative connotation. What the Norwegian delivered as United manager speaks in favour of hiring Carrick on a permanent basis, not against.
We let the English website explain:
“Up until this point, comparisons with Solskjaer have been unfairly made to score points against Carrick, when the Norwegian is arguably the club’s most successful manager after Sir Alex Ferguson.”
Solskjaer is arguably the best United manager since Ferguson.
“Yes, he (Solskjaer) didn’t win a title, but Erik ten Hag did, and nobody thinks he was successful when he led United to eighth place in the league. United (with Solskjaer) played brilliant football and faced two of the best teams ever – Pep Guardiola’s Man City and Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool.”
United played brilliantly and at the same time competed with two of the best teams ever.
“He did all this despite his previous English managerial experience with Cardiff, where he was eventually relegated. The crux of the argument is that Solskjaer’s problems with Cardiff were not an indicator of his leadership skills, because each job is vastly different and requires a different set of skills. Some managers do well with limited resources and don’t know how to play proactive football, and others struggle with the opposite.”
“Carrick looks more like Solskjaer than someone like Thomas Frank, and that’s the biggest argument in his favour.”
In other words: Give Michael Carrick the job – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has shown the way.
