You’re probably all aware of the fact that Manchester United sacked manager Jose Mourinho earlier this week, with the 55-year-old being replaced by former Red Devils player Ole Gunnar Solskjaer until the end of the season as per Sky Sports.
Mourinho’s sacking won’t have come as a shock to most, especially when you consider just how bad United have been so far this year.
The Red Devils currently sit in 6th place in the Premier League, 19 points behind leaders Liverpool, with the club also having been knocked out of the League Cup by Championship-side Derby County in the 3rd round.
United have looked a shadow of their former selves so far this season, and it looks like Solskjaer has a difficult task on his hands if he’s to get his side’s season back on track.
So, with this in mind, we’ve made a little to-do list that the Norwegian needs to follow in order to turn United’s campaign around.
Solve the Paul Pogba dilemma
It was well documented by a number of news outlets that Paul Pogba and Jose Mourinho didn’t have the best of relationships.
The Sun reported that the Frenchman was getting increasingly frustrated with Mourinho, whilst the Daily Mail have stated previously that the midfielder’s relationship with the former United boss was at ‘breaking point’ back in October.
Given this information, we can guess that Pogba wasn’t exactly sad to hear that Mourinho and United parted ways earlier this week, however this doesn’t necessarily mean that the dilemma surrounding the midfielder has been solved.
Since his move to United from Juventus in the summer of 2016, Pogba has struggled to find his feet at Old Trafford, with the 25-year-old constantly being benched by Mourinho during the 55-year-old’s stint in charge.
Pogba has often been inconsistent for United these past few seasons, with the player failing to replicate the form we saw his produce with France at the World Cup earlier this summer.
This is definitely something that Solskjaer needs to mend, as Pogba has all the ability to be United’s main man, and the potential to become one of the world’s best in the future.
Whether it be giving the midfielder a run of starts in United’s side no matter his form, or deploying the player in a different position and sticking with it, Solskjaer is going to have to try something in order to get Pogba’s United career, and his side’s campaign, back on track.
Let Juan Mata flourish
In the past, Spanish midfielder Juan Mata has shown time and time again that he has what it takes to play for every team in the world, with the Spaniard’s performances during his stints with both Valencia and Chelsea more than proving that.
Despite this, the 30-year-old has struggled to maintain a place in United’s starting XI these past few years, something that should really change under Solskjaer if the former Cardiff City boss wants to succeed during his short time as manager.
Mata, on his day, is one of the best creative midfielders in the world, and his ability to play in a variety of positions is something that Solskjaer should definitely utilise during the remainder of this season.
The former Chelsea man has proven to be very effective in both a central and wide attacking midfield role during his career, and it seemed weird that Mourinho would often bench the player when he was in charge at Old Trafford.
If Solskjaer wants to have a significant impact during his six months at United, he may want to think about making Mata one of his main men, as the Spaniard definitely has it in him to be difference maker for United in the second half of the season.
Play Anthony Martial as a striker
It’s fair to say that Romelu Lukaku has been performing well below-par this season, with the Belgian even being benched by Mourinho in recent weeks following his dodgy form.
The former Everton man has only scored a handful of times so far this term, and it seems like it may take some time before we see him reach the goalscoring heights we saw him achieve during his stint at Everton.
Given this, Solksjaer may want to think about giving forward Anthony Martial a role as his side’s main striker, something we’re sure the Frenchman would absolutely love.
Martial struggled to hold down a constant place in United’s starting XI during Mourinho’s time with the club, with the Portuguese coach often preferring to go with either Alexis Sanchez, Marcus Rashford or Jesse Lingard as his options out wide.
However, this could very well change should Solskjaer decide to use him as his side’s main striker, an opportunity that could see the 23-year-old reignite his Red Devils career.
The French international proved during Louis Van Gaal’s time at Old Trafford that he is more than capable of playing as his side’s vocal point in attack.
The player managed to score 17 and assist 9 in 49 games all competitions during the 2015/16 season, with the majority of these appearances seeing the 23-year-old used as a striker.
Lukaku spending some time on the bench could prove to be a good thing, as it may very well push the Belgian to try even harder to prove to Solskjaer that he should be the man to lead United’s attack.
And this in turn could see Martial be deployed as United’s main striker, something that could prove to be the difference in Solksjaer’s attempts to get United back into the race for the top four this season.
Sort out the defence
Given how solid United had been at the back during Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign at Old Trafford, combined with Mourinho’s preference to prioritise defence over attack, it’s a shock to see that there are only a handful of clubs in the Premier League that have conceded more times than the Red Devils this term.
United have been horrendous in defence so far this season, conceding goals left right and centre against teams they would’ve had no trouble keeping clean sheets against in previous years.
With injuries to Eric Bailly, Antonio Valencia and Luke Shaw limiting the options Mourinho had to choose from at the back, the Red Devils have often had to go into games with a more-than makeshift backline.
Players like Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay have been made to play in defence on more than occasion this season, something Solskjaer cannot afford to do if he’s to turn United’s season around.
Solskjaer is going to need to fix United’s leaky backline almost immediately if he’s so make his stint in charge a success, something he may be able to do if he’s allowed to sign players in the January transfer window.
The 48-year-old could add some serious quality to United’s defence should he be able to dip into the transfer market, an option he and the club should definitely consider if they don’t want to miss out on Champions League football.
Play Entertaining football
Up until recently, United were known as one of the most exciting teams to watch in the Premier League, with the Red Devils constantly getting fans at Old Trafford off their feet with their free-flowing, attacking football.
With players like Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Dimitar Berbatov, Andy Cole and Ruud Van Nistelrooy at his disposal over the years, Ferguson was allowed to turn United into side who were, more often than not, seriously entertaining to watch.
This part of United has died in recent years, with all of David Moyes, van Gaal and Mourinho failing to set the Premier League alight with their style of football at United.
The Red Devils have players like Pogba, Mata, Lingard and Marcus Rashford, all of whom are capable of producing great link-up play and coming up with some impressive moments of magic.
Solskjaer may not be at United for long, however he can definitely leave a lasting impression at Old Trafford should he bring back exciting, free flowing, attacking football to United for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club back in 2013.
