Ole Gunnar Solskjaer tasted his first loss since the resumption of the 2019-20 season as Man United went down 3-1 in the FA Cup semi-final at the hands of Chelsea.
And pundit Paul Merson has hinted that the Norwegian boss made some really shocking decisions before and during the start of the match which forced his side on the backfoot, something a manager like Jose Mourinho would never do.
He wrote for Sky Sports: “It’s clear that Man Utd’s next two league games are more important than the FA Cup semi-final. More important than winning a trophy. I cannot catch my breath.
“If that’s Jose Mourinho, he is playing his strongest team. You win trophies. You are judged on trophies!
“Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has to win something! If he wins the FA Cup it’s massive for him! There are only a few trophies he can win in a season!
“This is on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He’s not going to be manager at Manchester United for the next 15 years, is he? Sooner or later when he goes on a bad run he’s going to be out of a job. That’s football now. When you lose games, you’re out. If he loses his job and he has an FA Cup, he has an unbelievable CV!
“If Mourinho was in Man Utd’s position yesterday, knowing he has Arsenal in the final, he plays his strongest possible team.
“At the end of his career, Mourinho can say: “I won this, this, this, this, this, this and this. Oh, and this and this.” There won’t be an asterisks next to one FA Cup which says: “Oh, that year we finished fifth instead of fourth.” It’s all about trophies!
“I was flabbergasted at his team selection. I couldn’t believe it.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has done some really good job at the club since taking over but the relatively young manager is still to figure out some key aspects of surviving a whole season without any major issues.
Thanks to his poor team selection and his flawed formation, Man United’s confidence has now been dented which is not great news since they still need to secure two wins out of two matches in order to finish in the top four of the Premier League this season.
But having said all this, Solskjaer is not the only person to blame for this embarrassing loss to Chelsea since his players looked completely out of sync on Sunday.
