Solskjaer not fully responsible for Manchester United malaise

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images.

The Red Devils lukewarm start to their Premier League campaign continued on Sunday with a 2-0 defeat at West Ham.

The defeat only added to the question marks over Solskjaer’s ability to return the Red Devils to their glory days. To be fair all the blame for United’s downfall cannot be laid at the Norwegian’s door.

Solskjaer hasn’t got a lot to work with

The above statement may sound crazy, considering that the United hierarchy gave the Norwegian over £140million to bring in Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Harry Maguire and Daniel James during the summer.

Solskjaer has spent a bit of money attempting to create a young, hungry British-based team. It is a different approach to predecessor Jose Mourinho, who chose not to use younger players, instead of attempting to buy success.

However, the squad he inherited was not the greatest. It was full of underperforming and overpriced players. Some were on huge wages, which they simply were not justifying on the pitch.

There was also French midfielder Paul Pogba, who on his day is one of the best players in his position in the world. The problem is that he seems to blow hot and cold for the Red Devils. He looked destined to leave the Manchester club for much of the summer. He stayed and has just not got going this season, with an injury currently keeping him sidelined.

A major doubt about their top-four chances

Manchester United finished sixth-place last season and if they continue producing such lacklustre displays, then there are major doubts over their chances of finishing in the top-four this season.

There is no easy solution to turning things around at Old Trafford and Solskjaer is doing his best he can with the squad he has. The team maybe should be doing slightly better, but the current squad was never good enough to achieve United’s long-term objectives.

Can Ole Gunnar Solskjaer turn things around at Old Trafford?