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Cardiff return a reminder of the challenge facing Solskjaer
CARDIFF, United Kingdom, Dec 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s
first test as Manchester United’s caretaker manager will come in familiar
surroundings as the Norwegian returns to Cardiff City on Saturday, hoping to
fare better than he did during an ill-fated nine-month spell with the Welsh
side in 2014.
Solskjaer’s appointment was described as designed to put a smile back on
the face of everyone at the club after the confrontational end to Jose
Mourinho’s two-and-a-half years in charge.
The new man’s first act on his return to the club’s Carrington training
ground was reportedly to gift a bar of Norwegian chocolate to the club’s
long-serving receptionist — a gesture of the human qualities United know
they are getting.
“The smiling assassin sums him up,” former United midfielder Darren
Fletcher, who played with Solskjaer, told the BBC. “He’s a lovely fella but
Ole will let people know if he’s not happy with them.”
The best way for him to lighten to mood quickly will be with results on the
pitch.
A 3-1 defeat by Liverpool last weekend left United 19 points off the league
leaders and even 11 points adrift of the top four, but Solskjaer can look
forward to a relatively forgiving fixture list over the festive period.
After visiting the Cardiff City Stadium, the Red Devils host Huddersfield
and Bournemouth before travelling to Newcastle on January 2.
Solskjaer’s presence rekindles memories of United’s golden age, but also
serves as a stark reminder of how far the club have fallen since the
retirement of Alex Ferguson in 2013.
In 11 seasons under Ferguson as a predatory striker, Solskjaer scored 126
goals, including the one that famously won the Champions League final in 1999
as part of a treble of major trophies.
Yet, doubts remain over whether Solskjaer’s appointment as caretaker boss
until the end of the season is based too strongly on sentimentality than
someone with the right mix of motivational and tactical prowess to get United
not only competing again in the Premier League, but who can push Paris Saint-
Germain in a challenging Champions League last-16 tie.
His time at Cardiff that resulted in just three wins in 18 Premier League
games, relegation and being sacked early the next season after a poor start
in the Championship does not offer much cause for optimism.
But two spells in charge of Molde in his homeland have been far more
successful and Solskjaer also started his managerial career working as
United’s reserve coach, where he oversaw Paul Pogba among others.
The French World Cup winner’s frosty relationship with Mourinho was a major
factor in the Portuguese’s failure to build on winning the League Cup and
Europa League in his first season at Old Trafford.
Pogba has started United’s last three Premier League games on the bench,
but is expected to return to the starting XI after Solskjaer claimed earlier
this year he would “build the team around him”.
Solskjaer must also find the right defence to offer David de Gea more
protection. The Spaniard has conceded more goals in the Premier League this
season (29) in 17 games than the whole of the previous campaign as Mourinho
persistently changed his backline to no effect.
In attacking areas, Mourinho’s dismissal could also provide a fresh start
for Juan Mata and Anthony Martial, while œ50 million summer recruit Fred, who
didn’t even make the bench at Anfield last weekend, may now be given the
chance to flourish.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0841 hrs