By Godwin Odiko
Nine games under the Norwegian’s belt - and United boast eight wins and a draw.
In those nine matches, the Red Devils defeated Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham 1-0 at Wembley and Unai Emery’s Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium. Recollect that the same Spurs side ran riot against United at Old Trafford under Jose Mourinho and the same Arsenal side almost ran out of Old Trafford with a win under the Portuguese gaffer. So, without mincing words, the club’s stock has significantly risen under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
In truth, if you had offered United fans eight wins and a draw after Jose Mourinho got sacked, they would have snapped your fingers off.
It would thus be atrocious to overlook what the former Cardiff City manager has achieved in his nine games in charge.
Some persons might point to the next six fixtures for United in the month of February as the ideal tests to verify if Solskjaer is the right man for the job. Those groups of persons are well within their right to think so. But, we once put up the Spurs and Arsenal games as the ideal tests for Solskjaer and he passed them all in flying colours.
 |
| The Norwegian has passed every one of his big tests so far (Getty Images) |
So while we are looking for superior contests to access the interim manager’s capability, we mustn’t forget the ones he has astonishingly conquered.
Considering the mistakes we have made in the past in appointing people that had little or no understanding of what managing Manchester United really is, I simply can’t look past Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for the permanent job.
In Solskjaer you have a man that knows the club inside out. He shows it in his speeches, his conducts and even in his current unbeaten run.
United will definitely hit the brick wall under Solskjaer (there is no disputing), but it’s the way in which the team responds to those setbacks that will validate the choice to make him the club’s permanent boss.
The Burnley game was a practical example of what hitting a brick wall looks like, and what it seems like to get up from the dust.
With less than seven minutes remaining; and defeat staring Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the face, the team rose from their ruins to rescue a 2-2 draw.
That was a game where the team showed a gross height of complacency; especially in the first-half. In fact, that missed chance by Rashford from a well-crafted opportunity by Lukaku summed up the first-half – lackadaisical.
Granted the manager slaps that evil habit out of them after the game, going forward, it would be rare to see teams in the mould of Burnley come to Old Trafford and torment the home crowd the way the Clarets did on the night.
So, is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the man to take the club forward?
I will answer that with an emphatic ‘YES’.
But the board must not make the mistake of handing the Norwegian a lengthy contract if they eventually make him the permanent boss at the end of May.
Doing so is repeating the same mistakes with United’s previous managers since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
Football these days is about results. And if you must drive results out of a manager in the game these days, you must stop affording them the luxury of lengthy contracts.
It tends to make managers relax – and it doesn’t often turn out well.
David Moyes who hasn’t managed a top club (at least in the shape of Manchester United) was handed a massive six-year contract when he joined in 2013. We all knew how his tenure panned out.
Louis Van Gaal was handed three, and even though a three-year contract isn’t same as Moyes’ six, the former Netherlands’ coach felt he needed more time to fully implement his philosophy – and that also can be traced to complacency.
Had the board handed LVG a shorter contract, it would have occurred to him that he isn’t getting signed to come implement a philosophy that would only require ages to fully execute.
The board seemed to have gotten things right when they handed Jose Mourinho a three-year contract when he joined in 2016. But things started to really fall apart once the board went on to extend Mourinho’s contract to 2020 in January 2018.
Everyone relaxed afterwards and the lengthy contract became an obstacle once it became obvious the Portuguese manager had to leave.
It was widely reported that Mourinho even went on to shave his beard after getting his termination letter – an indication it was a happening that really didn’t bug the 56-year-old, given the mammoth £22.5m he received as compensation for a breach of his contract.
So how would the board avoid making similar mistakes with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer?
Give him the job on a permanent basis and ensure he gets all the backings in the market. But the contract mustn’t exceed two years.
If he excels during that period, they extend by a further two and on like that until it becomes obvious he really deserves a long-term contract.
There is no doubting the fact that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the right man for the job, but like we saw against Burnley, a lot of comfort can get one complacent.
Complacency with the job is what the board must avoid by handing the Norwegian manager a short-term contract.
Follow and interact with me on Twitter by simply clicking on this handle: @GodwinOdiko
Comments
Post a Comment