Ole Gunnar Solskjær is the man in the spotlight right now, but the performance against Tottenham proves nothing.
After suffering humiliating losses to Leicester and Liverpool and a string of poor performances, the Manchester United manager was in the spotlight when he faced Tottenham on Saturday and managed to cruise to a 3-0 win.
On the surface it was a great reaction from Solksjaer and his players who switched to a 3-5-2 formation to hope their fortunes change despite not using that system for over 18 months.
Whilst it worked, Spurs were hardly an opposition that threatened to bring Ole’s tenure to an end after a mainly miserable start to the season.
He picked on the obvious crevices in the Tottenham squad, using the width of his full backs to stretch a weak, unorganised Spurs defence but at the same time papering over his own cracks.
Unquestionably, Tottenham made Solskjær’s team a whole lot better than it was and has only delayed the inevitable at the club, Ole’s sacking.
Prior to the Spurs game, the Red Devil’s last ten results include five losses and 19 goals conceded which is the worst of all the previous United managers last ten games post Sir Alex Ferguson.
Each of the three managers (David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho) since Ferguson have all had weaker squads than Solskjær who has some of the world’s best footballers under his control and still not getting consistent results.
Relatively as well, United have a strong enough squad, player to player to be beating Spurs, it should’ve been an expectation rather than a surprise for them to beat the Lilywhites.
Defensively, is where The Reds have been exploited this season but Tottenham failed to even test the defence, not registering a single shot on target.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City await United and Solskjaer next Saturday, but a trip to Bergamo in Italy to face Atalanta is first on the Norweigian’s agenda.
The run of games does not get any easier too as Solksjaer has both Chelsea and Arsenal in the next four, teams in form and desperate to have a win against United on their record.
It’ll be surprising if Solskjær is still in charge after them run of games where it seems United could be easily blown away by their firepower.
It would not be surprising to see Solskjær sacked during the international break especially if United lose against City as this would give them an extended period of time to bring in a replacement.
With Antonio Conte becoming Tottenham manager this morning, United are lacking in quality choices to take over the squad which may be delaying the decision to relieve Ole of his duties.
Other than United sacking Solskjaer, it has been suggested that he should just resign from the job in the best interest of the club he loves.
Realistically this probably won’t happen as there is still some faith by the board in him which would’ve been reiterated to him after heaps of criticism from fans and pundits.
Managing United isn’t just any old management job too, the club is one of the biggest in the world with the eyes of millions across the globe and any manager would feel privileged to be in charge there.
Walking away now when times are tough would not speak very well of Solskjær’s character and maybe limit him in future positions if a big club has a vacancy.
Realistically, the job will not come again so whilst we may be witnessing the last few games of Solskjær’s tenure, he will be ready to give his all.
Time is ticking and as Chelsea form their breakaway at the top of the table, United need to decide sooner rather than later on the fate of Solskjær.