What Solskjaer needs to do to improve Man United

After Jose Mourinho was relieved of his duties at Old Trafford, the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was met with joy by most United fans, even more so after seeing their side’s impressive 5-1 win away at Cardiff City in his first game in charge. The Norwegian's excellent start in Manchester continued, seeing his side win vital away games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, as well as United’s surprise away victory against PSG to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the first time since 2014. The honeymoon period soon ended as United finished the 18/19 season winning only 2 of their last 11 games, including heavy losses to Barcelona and Everton. United’s poor form at the end of the season seems to have carried over to the start of the 19/20 season as Solskjaer’s men have won only 1 game out of 4. It’s baffling how United’s form changed from beating the likes of PSG, Chelsea and Tottenham to losing to Crystal Palace at home. So let’s have a look at how Solskjaer can improve United and rediscover their form from last season.

Solskjaer has been widely praised by providing young players such as Greenwood and Gomes with first-team minutes, with Greenwood’s performance being the only positive in United’s embarrassing defeat to relegated Cardiff City at Old Trafford on the final weekend of the season. During United’s pre-season tour Solskjaer continued to provide young players with minutes, once again with Gomes and Greenwood impressing United fans with Greenwood scoring 2 goals during pre-season and Gomes scoring an impressive winner in a pre-season game vs Tottenham. Greenwood has looked very lively when he has featured for United this season, showing willingness to attack and confidence to shoot, Gomes is yet to make an appearance for United this season, but with United’s midfield severely lacking depth, it’s time for Solskjaer to show faith in Gomes and give him more game time.

Despite strengthening key positions with the signings of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire and bringing in a promising young player in Daniel James, United didn’t have the transfer window that they needed after their shocking end to the season. It was evident that United was lacking creativity in midfield, so rumours of signing Bruno Fernandes who registered 32 goals and 18 assists for Sporting Lisbon last season seemed valid as he looked like a player who would vastly increase the creativity of United’s midfield, creativity which has been severely lacking in United’s opening 4 fixtures.

United’s fans are also frustrated regarding the clubs lack of replacements for departed players, especially in attack with the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez leaving Old Trafford to join Inter. United are set to play a large amount of games this season, especially if they go far in the Europa League, and at the minute their squad depth is sparse and won’t be able to cope with the amount of games. It is vital for United and Solskjaer to make full use of the January transfer window to bring in creative and attacking reinforcements.

Ole has been vastly praised by many Man United fans for the way he has cleared out some of the deadwood at Old Trafford, seeing players such as Matteo Darmian leave for Parma and Chris Smalling joining Roma (albeit on loan). With the likes of Ashley Young, Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo remaining in the squad primarily to increase United’s squad depth it’s reassuring for many United fans to see that Solskjaer is slowly getting rid of the players who are lacking the quality to play for Man United. Linking back to the previous point, Solskjaer needs to make full use of the January transfer window to continue to dispose of deadwood and bring in adequate replacements to make sure that United’s squad depth isn’t lacking.