MANCHESTER United’s senior players ascertain that boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s continuous tweaking of their tactics is a detrimental factor to their indifferent form.
According to the Telegraph, they fear that their manager’s constant tinkering has caused instability which has correlated into inconsistent results.
The Red Devils have played 18 times in all competitions this season and not once has Solskjaer named the same starting XI in back-to-back games. Furthermore, he has only named an unchanged line-up in the Premier League once.
That was in October when a 4-1 win at Newcastle was then followed by 0-0 home draw against Chelsea – however, they came either side of a 2-1 Champions League win at Paris Saint-Germain that saw the starting XI change.
‘There has been too much chopping and changing, of personnel and systems,’ a source told the Telegraph.
‘It’s not making it easy to build relationships on the pitch.’
Solskjaer has chopped and changed between his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, a 4-1-2-1-2 and a 3-4-1-2 this campaign.
This is evident by United’s last two matches. In Saturday’s 3-1 Premier League win at West Ham, they deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation but in Tuesday’s 3-2 Champions League defeat at RB Leipzig they lined-up in a 3-4-1-2.
Delving further, it appears that midfield is Solskjaer’s greatest headache. Bruno Fernandes is an automatic starter but after that it can tend to be anyone’s guess.
Solskjaer has used 11 different midfield partnerships across 16 Premier League and Champions League matches so far – nine of which have been utilised just once. For example, on Saturday his midfield consisted of Scott McTominay, Paul Pogba and Donny van de Beek. Three days later it was McTominay, Nemanja Matic and Fernandes.
In attack too, there have been nine different attacking combinations. On Saturday it was Mason Greenwood, Edinson Cavani and Anthony Martial while Greenwood and Rashford started the defeat at RB Leipzig.
Solskjaer maintains the support of the club’s hierarchy and his squad too – who are sympathetic to his lack of backing in the summer transfer window and especially the failed capture of Jadon Sancho. He has also had to deal with a shortened pre-season, red cards to Anthony Martial and Fred as well as several players absent due to coronavirus – including the divisive Paul Pogba.
However, the lack of consistency is proving a stumbling block considering that come the football restart it was clear who his first-choice XI and was in a 4-2-3-1: David de Gea; Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw; Matic, Fernandes, Pogba; Greenwood, Martial, Rashford. —Daily Mail
