Ole Gunnar Solskjaer feels that Manchester United sold three readymade ‘counter-attacking’ players when Dan James, Andreas Pereira and Jesse Lingard left the Premier League giants.
Almost two years on since his appointment at Old Trafford, Erik ten Hag has still only picked up a single win away from home against one of the biggest teams in English football. And even that was fortune to say the least, Scott McTominay and Andre Onana’s heroics seeing off a dominant Aston Villa outfit in February.
The Dutchman’s record against the so-called ‘big six’, meanwhile, leaves a lot to be desired too.
This season alone, Manchester United have lost to Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester City (twice) while scraping a 0-0 draw at Liverpool.
With that in mind, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s own record against the Premier League’s big-hitters perhaps deserves a little more credit than it got at the time. 36 games, and more wins (14) than losses (12). A win ratio of 39 per cent, meanwhile, was the highest of any post-Sir Alex Ferguson manager.
Not bad for a ‘PE teacher’.
Solskjaer’s top six record was impressive at Manchester United
Solskjaer famously defeated Manchester City four times in eight games – the only manager ever to enjoy such a record against Pep Guardiola – while knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup in 2021.
And, when asked by The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast, Solskjaer puts his impressive record against some of the finest teams in the game down to the ‘counter-attacking’ prowess of many of United’s more underappreciated talents at the time.
“There were players whose main strength was counter-attacking, running and digging in,” Solskjaer explains.
“In previous years, you had players like (Andreas) Pereira, (Dan) James and (Jesse) Lingard that could run all day. And it’s easy to set up a team and beat City away from home.”
Lingard tore Arsenal apart in a thrilling FA Cup clash with Arsenal early in the Solskjaer era, while the jet-heeled Dan James was one of the first names on the team sheet against high-quality opposition.
It may be no coincidence that Solskjaer’s reign started to unravel once United sold James to Leeds and brought in a 36-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo. Thus, tearing up a gameplan which had served the Norwegian so well.
Lingard? We aren’t so sure. Solskjaer deemed him expendable, loaning him out to West Ham, and then when he returned, he didn’t use him.
Pereira was also dropped like a hot potato as soon as Bruno Fernandes was signed, and was subsequently sent out on loan twice by the Norwegian.
Ronaldo’s return was the beginning of the end
“We were one of the highest pressing teams before (Ronaldo’s return),” Solskjaer adds. “We let Dan James go when Cristiano came in, and they’re two different types of players.”
Flash forward to 2024 and, as that disappointing display away to Man City emphasised, United no longer possess the same rapid-fire counter-attacking quality as before.
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