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Solskjaer’s attacking football puts former post-Fergie Manchester United bosses to shame

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer set his stall out as Manchester United boss in his first ever game as manager.

An exciting 5-0 win over Cardiff City was the perfect way for United to free themselves of the shackles of the Jose Mourinho era.

Mourinho was not entirely to blame for United fans being fed up of unattractive football.

David Moyes and Louis van Gaal had an equal hand in United adopting a dour, risk-conscious brand of football which often bored fans to tears while also bringing in average results.

Manchester United v Leeds United - Premier League
Photo by Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has placed United on an upwards trajectory, and he is doing it while playing attacking football.

A remarkable statistic shows Solskjaer’s Manchester United have scored five or more goals 10 times in just over 150 games.

Under the previous three bosses in narrowly over 300 games it happened just twice.

Solskjaer has brought Manchester United back

Solskjaer initially came under a little criticism for focusing on counter-attacking football. This was because he was simply working with the players he had available to get the best out of them.

Since Bruno Fernandes signed and Paul Pogba recovered from injury, United have been a far more exciting team to watch.

United can now control games from start to finish, and blow teams away with relentless mini-spells of goalscoring like we saw against Leeds on Saturday.

The 9-0 win over Southampton earlier this year was an illustration of just how good United are when it all clicks.

Manchester United v Leeds United - Premier League
Photo by Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images

Under Jose Mourinho, the default setting after going 1-0 up was to sit back and try to protect the lead. So often it backfired.

Solskjaer prefers his teams to go out and kill opponents off with a second, third, or even more. This is what Manchester United should be about.

The United boss told the club website: “For me, this is the way I want to see my team play. Not just because it’s Leeds but I want to see them running, going forward, taking risks.”

The win over Leeds has set the tone for the season, with so much left in reserve, with the likes of Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford missing out.

United will score five plus goals numerous times this season. This certainly won’t be the last.