• 21 Nov, 2021
• Classic Ghana
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: Man Utd Sack Manager With Club Seventh In Premier League

Manchester United have sacked manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Watford.

“It is with regret that we have reached this difficult decision,” United said.

The club’s recent run of poor form includes a 5-0 thrashing by Liverpool on 24 October and a 2-0 defeat by Manchester City on 6 November.

United added: “While the past few weeks have been disappointing, they should not obscure all the work he has done over the past three years to rebuild the foundations for long-term success.

“Ole leaves with our sincerest thanks for his tireless efforts as manager and our very best wishes for the future.”

Solskjaer is a former Red Devils player, scoring 126 goals in 11 seasons from 1996-2007 including the winner in the 1999 Champions League final.

United said in their statement: “His place in the club’s history will always be secure, not just for his story as a player, but as a great man and a manager who gave us many great moments.

“He will forever be welcome back at Old Trafford as part of the Manchester United family.”

United next play when they travel to Spain to take on Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday, before league games against Chelsea and Arsenal.

Darren Fletcher will stay on as technical director, while Mike Phelan and Kieran McKenna – who were part of Solskjaer’s coaching set up – will also remain at the club for the time being.

Former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane, currently out of work, is an early favourite with bookmakers to become United’s next manager.

Both Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes have spoken out in recent weeks – and on the Monday after the humiliation by rivals Liverpool, BBC Sport reported that an increasing number of players had started to lose faith in Solskjaer’s tactics and felt he was out of his depth compared with managers at other leading clubs, namely Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp and Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel.

After a 4-2 defeat at Leicester in October, Pogba said United needed to “change something”, adding: “We have been having these kind of games for a long time and haven’t found the problem. We have conceded easy and stupid goals.”

And after United lost the Manchester derby, Fernandes said players needed to “look in the mirror” because they were “not at the same level” as their City counterparts.

Solskjaer sixth manager departure this season

Solskjaer becomes the sixth Premier League managerial casualty of the season, a high number that has been attributed in part to the fact that full crowds have returned to games for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The suggestion is that struggling managers are more vulnerable to the sack with big crowds calling for them to go than they were when games were being played in empty – or partly empty – stadiums.

There were only four Premier League managerial exits in the whole of last season, and only Slaven Bilic, at West Brom, lost his job before Christmas. But this season, Xisco Munoz at Watford, Steve Bruce at Newcastle, Nuno Espirito Santo at Tottenham, Daniel Farke at Norwich, and Dean Smith at Aston Villa have all left their clubs.

United spent more than £110m in the summer, bringing in Jadon Sancho (£73m), Raphael Varane (£34m) and Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.85m) – investment that followed fan protests against the Glazer family ownership towards the end of last season.

During Solskjaer’s reign, United have spent more than £400m on transfer fees – and those signings include captain Harry Maguire from Leicester for £80m, Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace for £50m, Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon for £47m, and Donny van de Beek from Ajax for £39m.

Source: BBC

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