It appears that the Man United dressing room is not as harmonious as everyone outside of the club would like to think.
Several issues are said to have been raised during the candid clear-the-air talk between the players and management, allegedly ranging from their heavily under pressure Norwegian boss’ tactics to the alleged favoritism he practises in his team selection.
With the Red Devils plunging into a new crisis – albeit tempered slightly with the recent rejuvenating win over a totally lackluster Tottenham selection – several fans have begun clmoring for Ole Gunner Solskjaer to be sacked. Which is not at all difficult to understand as the Premier League giants have lost back-to-back games in the English top-flight, conceding a whopping nine goals along the way – four against Leicester and five at home to Liverpool.
With only one resuscitating win from their last five Premier League fixtures, Man Utd’s title aspirations could well be over by November, especially given that they will be facing stiff opposition from Man City, Chelsea, and Arsenal in their next imminent outings. Which subsequently resulted in urgently-convened clear-the-air talks between the concerned/disgruntled players and the management in order to ascertain the root causes for their under-performance in the hope of turning things around before things become totally unmanageable.
The session turned out to be a no-holds-barred one, with the Times claiming that one unnamed player even went as far as questioning Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s decision to hand the squad’s captaincy to Harry Maguire despite the Englishman having been handed the armband only six months after arriving at Old Trafford from Leicester.
The other reason profered for questioning Maguire’s appointment was longer-serving players like David de Gea and Marcus Rashford being overlooked as captain in favor of the world’s most expensive defender. There was also another interesting point raised concerning the timing of Maguire’s despite the latter’s recent poor form, having performed way under expectations in both the defeats against Leicester and Liverpool, as well as the 3-2 comeback victory over Atalanta in the UEFA Champions League.
Other issues were also tabled in the discussion, with one player criticizing his team-mates for showing a lack of motivation in training. Another squad member also didn’t hold back in blasting the manager’s tactics and his refusal to shake up the starting eleven, accusing the Norwegian gaffer of favoritism in his team selection, favoring certain players over others regardless of performance. The likes of Donny van de Beek and Jesse Lingard were notably mentioned as the ones being sidelined.
Well, the Old Trafford boss seems to have begun shaking things up this last weekend with the positive victory over Tottenham. Will Ole be able to keep the team on the right winning path when they next face an Atalanta side lusting for revenge in the Champions League rematch?
Although this remains unclear, but what is certain is that Solskjaer will remain in charge of the club for the time being. The Norwegian legend will be given another chance to turn things around within the next few crucial matches.