A humiliating 2-0 defeat right in their own backyard to a team they’d never lost to before in all of 58 years has sent quake tremors on a Richter scale of at least 9 throughout all and sundry at Old Trafford, rocking the once unshakeable establishment to the core of its foundation.
Burnley’s scintillating victory over its daunting nemesis of old that had been haunting them for over half a century is justifiably as monumental as it is historical. Sweet indeed is the savour of vengeance long overdue. But bitter and unsavoury beyond measure for the vanquished.
The damning consequences of Manchester United’s most recent tumble and fall from its once high perch are echoing near and far, accumulating pressure on its pugnacious manager, the usually unperturbed, unflappable Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Neophytes, detractors, hardcore club stalwarts and former legends both from within and without United’s auspices and pundits alike are reeling from the impact of the loss, one that followed immediately on the heels of another histrionic defeat at the hands of a long-time arch rival over the weekend away from home.
Solskjaer has been drawing increasingly heavy incoming flak from almost all quarters since both debacles reared their ugly heads and bit him in his posterior.
Former Liverpool player Jason McAteer is insistent that the buck has to stop with Solskjaer, whom he believes isn’t ‘the right fit’ for the club, and has even prompted that the Norwegian’s former Manchester United team-mates working curently as pundits have been instrumental in trying to prolong his stay of evecution by keeping hostile, acrimonious fans off his back. Former United legends like Gary Neville and Roy Keane have been numbered among Solskjaer’s ‘friends in the media’ who have been accused of helping him save his skin from the devastation and repercussions of a fallout that’s placed the austere club in the cauldron of chaos and controversy with regards to the laissez-faire, lackadaisical style of management at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
“The manager that’s in trouble, his press conferences don’t fill me with any confidence when I hear him speak,” McAteer told beIN Sports.
He continued to ram home his point:
“To come out of the weekend and say he takes hope from the Liverpool game and they’re not far away is ridiculous. It’s a man on the edge!
I think part of the problem is when you have a lot of friends in the media who are batting for your side or backing your corner, the fans will listen to the likes of Gary Neville. Roy Keane at the weekend was certainly very much in Ole’s camp, ‘Give him time’… The fans are going to listen to that and think, ‘yeah this is the way to go, let’s stick by him’, but how long are you going to stick by him?!!”
Then came the lacerating rapier-like slashes:
“His win ratio is one of the worst in Manchester United’s history and you’ve got some big managers out there who have won things and taken their clubs, Allegri with Juventus for instance, to big titles and Champions League finals and know how to manage big players.”
And the final coup de grace:
“I just don’t see any leaders in the team, I don’t think they know what they’re trying to do. There’s not that lovely blend of youth and experience. They just look lost at the minute, Manchester United. I hate managers being sacked in this industry, they get sacked very quickly these days because of the results industry that we’re in … but I just don’t think Ole is the right fit.”
Damned right he isn’t the right fit!