Ode to Ole
The journey of the beloved supersub as Manchester United’s gaffer so far.
On May 26, 1999 at Nou Camp, Barcelona, a 26-year old man from Norway, dubbed a “supersub” by fans and pundits for his knack of scoring important goals as a substitute, came on in the 81st minute in the most important match of his life. His team, Manchester United was trailing by one goal behind Bayern Munich in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final and needed his help once more to turn the result around. Just as fate would have it, he did it in the third minute of injury time. “And Solskjær has won it!” The commentators wrapped it beautifully and that goal became a legendary tale for every Manchester United fan. That night in Nou Camp, Manchester United completed the treble and Ole Gunnar Solskjær put his name in a special place within the club’s history.
In Manchester, on Dec. 19, 2018, the once-mighty Manchester United was in trouble again. After 16 matches, the club sat in the sixth position with a 16-point difference with Liverpool at the top while also being the exact point differential away from the relegation zone. The dire condition gave Manchester United all the reasons to once again call on their “supersub” from his comfort blanket in Norway. They no longer put the number 20 on the electronic board for substitution, as they used to. Instead, they put his name as ink on paper and have him sit on the dugout not as a substitute, but as a manager.
Manchester United appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjær as a caretaker, the supersub equivalent of a manager. The appointment came as a surprise. The media anticipated Mauricio Pochettino, then the Tottenham Hotspurs manager, to move his office from London to Manchester. Pochettino was highly rated as a first-class manager but Manchester United preferred to appoint an unproven ex-player whose previous stint in the Premier League with Cardiff City ended with the club’s relegation while his best achievement was bringing Molde FK to win the Norwegian league twice in a row. As if history is repeating itself, Manchester United’s signing Solskjær in 1996 was also a surprise. They were reportedly willing to bring one of the best English strikers ever in Alan Shearer but they signed a skinny 23 years old Norwegian striker instead.
The appointment casted many doubts. “Ex-player,” ”unproven Premier League manager,” “too sweet,” “tactically incompetent” were some of the negative clouds that surrounded Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s signing to Old Trafford. Not to mention the locker room atmosphere, which was believed to contribute to Jose Mourinho’s sacking, player development, and removing some deadwood from Manchester United checkbook were included as Solskjær’s homework.
Three days later at Old Trafford after Manchester United signed him, Solskjær managed the Red Devils for the first time against his former team, Cardiff City. His side won 5–1, the first time Manchester United had scored five or more goals in a Premier League match since a 5–5 draw against West Bromwich Albion in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final game for Manchester United. In the post-match conference, he underlined the team’s hard work. He pointed out that the Manchester United he knew always ran more than the opponents. He sounded like a proper Manchester United manager who truly understood the club’s stature.
Manchester United continued to show a glimpse of promise under Solskjær. The sweet beginning to Solskjær’s story at Old Trafford continued with consecutive victories with it climaxing in Paris. Manchester United managed to win against Paris Saint-Germain thanks to a Romelu Lukaku brace and a Marcus Rashford penalty in the 94th minute, in a typical Manchester United comeback fashion. That victory gave the Manchester United board no option but to give Ole Gunnar Solskjær, the “supersub” caretaker, with a permanent contract. Sadly, the fairy tale beginning did not continue. FC Barcelona knocked Manchester United out in the quarter-final round of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League. In the Premier League, Manchester United finished sixth and did not qualify for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League.
All the smiles coming from the baby-faced assassin in his first press conference as Manchester United manager have disappeared. More wrinkles appeared on his face while his hair turned whiter. Anyone can sense the stress that he was experiencing. The pressure to manage the biggest football club in England is always there, especially when quite a long time has passed since Manchester United won the league. But he managed to survive. No one predicted Solskjær would celebrate his second-year anniversary as a Manchester United manager. Pressures and questions kept coming but Solskjær kept his place in the Old Trafford dugout. Two years after Solskjær started managing Manchester United, he looked to be able to steady the ship. At the end of 2020, Manchester United is sitting second in the Premier League with the same points as the reigning champion, Liverpool FC. Even though Manchester United’s elimination from the UEFA Champions League had been a disappointment this season, Solskjær’s work for Manchester United is starting to come to fruition.
Two years into his reign, Solskjær has addressed the doubts that were given to him. He breathed fresh air into the team’s atmosphere from day one and maintains it until now. From the first press conference, he pointed out that it is important to speak with the players upfront and explain to them the set of standards he expected of them to play for Manchester United. He was clear with Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez that they were to become rotational players behind Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial. Lukaku and Sanchez decided to look for starting roles somewhere else and got moved to Inter Milan which ended in a win-win situation for all parties. He was also strict with underperforming superstars like Paul Pogba when he did not perform well at the start of the season and played Fred and Scott McTominay in place of Pogba.
Solskjær also never pointed fingers at a specific player when they did not play well. He smartly refused to put criticism on one person and referred to the team as a collective every time he felt his team did not perform. It was not a sign of weakness on Solskjær but a sign of respect to his players to keep it private in their dressing room. He learned from Mourinho’s experience that being critical of your own players in the media did not give a good impression to players.
From the first press conference, Solskjær also joked that no one has sat on the bench more than he has. It may give the players a sense that even if they do not start, they are still a crucial part of the team. Edinson Cavani, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, and other players that have come in as substitutes changed the flow and won the game for Manchester United in the second half in many games this season. Memories of Solskjær not willing to use his substitution when the games were in stalemates last season are still fresh in people’s minds. But it might be his signal to the club’s board of directors that the substitutes available to him were not good enough. When quality backups like Edinson Cavani and Donny van de Beek came, Solskjær was able to rotate his team and tactically change the game flow with his substitutions.
Solskjær also showed his good eye for talent. Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka improved the defense considerably, while Daniel James provided energy and pace in the attacking area. Bruno Fernandes proved to be the club’s best signing under Solskjær. He took the modern number 10 role as his own and elevated Manchester United to a different level.
Imagine Manchester United’s position last season if Fernandes came sooner during the summer as Solskjær wanted. This year’s signings give more options for Solskjær and adds competition for the first team players. Unfortunately, the Manchester United board failed to sign Erling Haaland in January 2020 and Jadon Sancho in the summer transfer window. Evidently, Manchester United is still lacking a first-team quality right winger and defender, but Edinson Cavani, Donny van de Beek, and Alex Telles gave Solskjær room to explore his tactical approach and formations.
This season Solskjær also answered his doubters who often labeled him as tactically incompetent or even worse, a one-trick pony. During his experience as the first-team strikers coach in the 2007–08 season and the reserve team manager from 2008 to 2010, Solskjær had a chance to learn from Sir Alex Ferguson and one of the best teams ever assembled in Manchester United history. The 2007–08 Manchester United was known as a compact team with devastating counter-attack and fluid attacking players. Seeing the 2007–08 Manchester United from up close as a first team and reserve coach, Solskjaer looked to try to emulate that team. He prefers his team to play with a front three that has no fixed position, which was the reason he played with Anthony Martial ahead of Romelu Lukaku.
Last season Manchester United started the season with the 4–3–3 formation, but shifted to the back three formation when Paul Pogba was injured. Then he settled with 4–2–3–1 after the arrival of Bruno Fernandes. Playing his team in those three formations showed that Solskjær is not a one-trick pony but actually has decent tactical knowledge at his disposal. This season, Manchester United also showed they are able to play with a 4–4–2 diamond formation to compensate for their lack of wide players. The performances against Paris Saint-Germain away, RasenBallsport Leipzig at home, and Leeds United at home should be something to build on moving forward.
Players development under Solskjær is another thing that is often underestimated. After successfully improving Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial’s goal-scoring acumen, he was also able to unearth Mason Greenwood’s talent. But no one has improved more than Fred within two years of Solskjær being in charge. Three years ago, when he came to Manchester United from FC Shakhtar Donetsk, Fred was touted as an up and coming midfielder. But he struggled to adapt to Premier League football. He was outpaced and outmuscled by other Premier League midfielders. He looked out of position often, was unable to read the game and did not pass well.
Early during his time in charge, Solskjær ensured Fred was still needed in Manchester United and he will get his time to prove his worth. In the next two years, Fred evolved. In 2018–19 Fred recorded 25 tackles won, 90 successful pressures, 32 blocks, 15 intercepts, 924 touches, 692 ball carries, and 697 pass targets per fbref.com. In the 2019–20 season, Fred was able to double all of his offensive and defensive numbers. He recorded 51 tackles won, 194 successful pressures, 64 blocks, 28 intercepts, 2035 touches, 1482 ball carries, and 1478 pass targets per fbref.com.
This season Fred has become an important part of Manchester United. In the match against Leeds United, Fred was able to calmly break the opponent’s pressing and understand when to pass, dribble, and move to create space. Michael Carrick, now in Solskjær’s coaching team, deserved some credit for the improvement of Fred by taking him under his guidance. Fred still has room for improvement in his passing, but developing players like Fred and also Scott McTominay may save Manchester United’s funds from spending on another defensive midfielder.
However, some questions still remain to be answered by Solskjær. It is not a secret Manchester United becomes a different team when Bruno Fernandes is not playing. Solskjær has to solve that puzzle in case Fernandes has to be absent for a significant amount of time. The signing of Donny van de Beek did not give an instant solution to alleviate Fernandes’ huge influence to make the team perform. Manchester United surely cannot fully rely on Bruno Fernandes even more to stay competitive considering this season is packed with matches until the end of the season.
Manchester United’s slow start in matches is another question Solskjær needs to figure out. In most of their matches, Manchester United always make a comeback in the second half to compensate for their slow start. But it could not happen all the time. Slow starts have proven costly to their season. Their elimination from the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League was also the result of their slow start when RB Leipzig took a two-nil lead in the first fifteen minutes during their group-qualifiers matchup.
The biggest question for Solskjær and his team is their consistency. Their performances often let themselves down. Two big wins against Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig followed by a defeat in Istanbul proved to be fatal to their European campaign. Last season, Solskjær was able to bring Manchester United to three cup semifinals only to be let down by their anticlimactic performances. Solskjaer and his players need to solve this. Solskjaer himself is not new to this issue. Back to his playing time in a Manchester United shirt, he spent many times watching another striker play from the bench. His status as a UEFA Champions League winner did not guarantee a place in the starting lineup. One of the things that separated Solskjær and then-new signing Ruud van Nistelrooy who just arrived from PSV Eindhoven was consistency. Solskjær was a good striker himself but he was a bit streaky while Nistelrooy was able to provide goals match after match.
Consistency separates the stars from the role players. It also separates a team from the ones being chased by others and the ones chasing those at the forefront. Consistency will be the ultimate challenge for Solskjær as a manager. Solskjær needs to prove he is not only a manager who is capable of steadying the ship but also bring Manchester United back to the promised land.
Faiz Ramadhan is a sports enthusiast. Spent his spare time to watch, read and write about sport especially soccer and the NBA. Manchester is his heaven. He follows Premier League religiously and recently watches Bundesliga in more frequent. Football Manager geek. Bandwagon Luka Doncic fan from day one.
You can follow him on Instagram: @faiz_rmdn and on Twitter: @faizrmd for his random rambles.
