Solskjaer's Ronaldo comments show why Ten Hag is an upgrade for Man Utd
Suraj Radia
- 20 Sept 2023 13:19 BST
- 3 min read
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has opened up about his tenure at Manchester United, including how the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo ‘felt so right but ended up wrong’, highlighting why the club are in better hands under Erik ten Hag despite recent turmoil.
Solskjaer was sacked by United almost two years ago after a downturn in results and performances and the Norwegian revealed in an interview with The Athletic that ‘certain players and egos came out’ when results went wrong.
The United legend spent just under three years as the club’s manager but failed to win any silverware as well as stomp out the seemingly ever-present issues in the dressing room which manifested during his final few months at Old Trafford.
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Ten Hag, meanwhile, made the unpopular choice of dropping Ronaldo from the line-up as one of his first acts when appointed last summer, a decision which was tough but ultimately led to an improvement in the team’s fortunes and culminated in a trophy during his debut season.
Solskjaer perhaps had too many emotional ties to United and stars such as Ronaldo to truly impose his own style of discipline on the squad and hinted that he agreed to the Portuguese international’s signing with his heart rather than his head.
Ten Hag has proven a polarising figure this season but the Dutchman has always made decisions for the best of the team and Solskjaer words should prove to United why they need to keep faith with their current manager through the tough periods.
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Solskjaer explained that his remit at the club was ‘to get fans smiling again’ – an admiral task and one which he achieved at points throughout his reign but something which failed to have a lasting effect.
Part of the reason things soured under Solskjaer could be his desire to pursue with obvious issues such as Ronaldo, who offered a strong supply of goals but often at the detriment of the team cohesion.
Solskjaer spoke of some players ‘not being as good as their own perception of themselves’, which would be a fair assessment except there was not much effort to rid the club of these personalities, especially compared to his successor.
United’s consistent issue is one of culture as much as quality and Ten Hag has made continuous attempts to instil his discipline into the squad, even if it leaves expensive recruits such as Jadon Sancho out in the cold.
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The former Ajax boss proved his credentials as a coach last season and deserves support from the club and supporters to continue making the tough calls, even if results have suffered in the short-term, in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of managers past.
