Does Solskjaer deserve to keep his job at Man Utd?

Stefan Bienkowski

• 18 Oct 2021 08:32 BST
• 4 min read

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes has taken to social media to show support for under-fire manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The Old Trafford boss will undoubtedly be feeling the heat after his side were well beaten by Leicester City on Saturday, losing 4-2 to the Foxes.

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The result now means that Man Utd languish in sixth place, with just four wins from their first eight games of the new Premier League season.

As such, pundits and fans have begun asking serious questions of the Man Utd manager, wondering if Solskjaer is the right man to take this star-studded squad back to the top of the league table.

Despite that, Fernandes was quick to post on Instagram his support for the manager by urging his teammates and fans to “stand together” in response to the poor form.

“We can only raise from this series of negative results by standing together and United. That’s what we’ll do,” said the Portugal international.

But, like any manager at the top of the game, Solskjaer is ultimately judged on the job he’s doing on the pitch and whether he’s meeting expectations.

So does the Man Utd manager deserve the support of his club and to keep his job at Old Trafford? Let’s take a look.

How well have his teams performed?

After almost three years in the post, there’s no doubt that this Man Utd team is now the one Solskjaer wanted to build at Old Trafford. However, there isn’t a huge amount of evidence to suggest the club are actually moving forward under him.

For example, in his first season at the club Man Utd finished with 66 points and a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League. In his second season his team finished with the exact same number of points but this time finished third. And, to his credit, Man Utd then improved on that again with a second-place finish and 74 points last season.

However, that second-place finish was no better than the one Mourinho’s side achieved in 2017/18 and was actually accomplished with fewer points. And while there’s no doubt that being the best of the rest is an achievement of sorts, Man Utd’s final spot in the Premier League last season must be considered alongside the implosion of Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool over the past 12 months. In other words: it wasn’t a full-strength league.

This unremarkable form is perfectly underlined by the club’s record in cup competitions under Solskjaer too. Since he took over the reins at Old Trafford, Man Utd have failed to reach a single domestic final and have struggled to make any progress in the Champions League.

Reaching the Europa League final last season certainly deserves some credit, but failing to beat Villareal to win the competition once again showed where Solskjaer comes up short compared to his predecessors. Despite his difficulties at the club, even Mourinho won a Europa League title.

There may be plenty of intangible factors that make Solskjaer an ideal fit for Man Utd behind the scenes, but on paper he’s a distinctly average manager at Old Trafford and one that hasn’t hugely improved the club’s standing since he took over in 2018.