Man Utd drop to seventh as Solskjaer faces the axe after Watford defeat

Stefan Bienkowski

• 20 Nov 2021 10:58 CST
• 3 min read

Manchester United slumped to eighth place on Saturday as a 4-1 defeat to Watford piled further pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The Norwegian manager promised a reaction in the club’s first match after the winter break, following humbling defeats to Liverpool and Manchester City in recent Premier League match days.

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However, rather than take the game to their hosts, the Old Trafford side were played off the park in the first half, with Watford taking a two goal lead into the break, despite missing a penalty in the 11th minute and having a further goal ruled out by VAR.

In dramatic fashion, it was none other than former Man Utd player Joshua King that dealt the first blow to Solskjaer’s side, when he latched on to a killer pass and tucked the ball into the back of David de Gea’s net with a simple finish.

Then, just before the break, Ismaila Sarr made up for his penalty miss by rolling the ball into the bottom left corner from inside the Man Utd box.

Man Utd grasping at straws

If anything underlined the bizarre and rather desperate nature of Solskjaer’s management of this Man Utd side it was the manager’s decision to bring on Donny Van de Beek in the second half to add some much-needed inspiration to the side’s attack.

Despite being notably ostracized by Solskjaer for much of the past 18 months, the Dutch midfielder remarkably pulled a goal back and provided a flicker of hope for his manager when he latched onto a smart head from Cristinao Ronaldo to stick the ball into the back of the net just five minutes into the second half.

However, despite a late Ronaldo goal being ruled out for offside, Man Utd truly struggled to break Watford down and turn this match around and were ultimately forced to accept defeat when late strikes from Joao Pedro and Emmanuel Dennis made it three and then four for the home side. And with it a possible end to Solskjaer’s reign at Man Utd.