El Sackico: Ronaldo ensures Ole survives as Nuno hurtles towards Spurs exit

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 30 Oct 2021 13:34 CDT
• 4 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo was in superb form as Manchester United defeated Tottenham 3-0 away from home on Saturday, playing his part to safeguard the future of embattled manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for now.

Six minutes before the end of the first half, the Portuguese superstar popped up with a glorious volley across goal into the far corner following a clipped pass from Bruno Fernandes.

In the second period, as Spurs were pressing for an equaliser, he cleverly chopped inside past the defender, allowing him the space to stab a lovely defence-splitting pass for Edinson Cavani to score.

Marcus Rashford then came on to make it 3-0 in the 86th minute.

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Prior to the game, it had been dubbed 'El Sackico' due to both managers - Solskjaer and Nuno Espirito Santo - being under huge pressure due to the performances of their respective teams so far this season.

Man Utd were coming off one of the most embarrassing results in their history as they lost 5-0 to Liverpool at Old Trafford, while Spurs lost 1-0 against London rivals West Ham.

Any negative result for either manager would have seen the pressure increase, and thanks mainly to Ronaldo, Solskjaer has earned a reprieve while Nuno will again face questions about his future.

What next for Solskjaer?

There were rumours circulating prior to kick off that Solskjaer may be sacked if Man Utd failed to win against Tottenham.

The Norwegian will receive a few plaudits due to the manner of the win, having switched to a fresher 3-5-2 formation against Spurs.

Some Man Utd fans demanded the inclusion of Cavani and he did oblige, with the decision paying dividends as the Uruguayan formed a cracking partnership with Ronaldo - the first time they have started together this season.

Solskjaer was also fortunate that Tottenham are completely hopeless and ended up being roundly booed by their own fans for the last 10 minutes.

Up next are two much better sides in Atalanta and, of course, Manchester City.

The defensive formation, which saw United surrender 58% of possession to Spurs, may indeed work against their neighbours, but it is unlikely to prove a long-term solution.

How can Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Jadon Sancho be regularly integrated? And is it wise to lean on a forward duo with a combined age of 70?

With an xG of 1.19, United did not fare significantly better than their hosts' 0.88. Indeed, these figures suggest a draw was the likeliest outcome from this meeting.

Ole is safe for now and deserves credit for the scheme he came up with to win this match.

What next for Nuno?

The atmosphere in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was poisonous towards the end of the match, and Nuno and Harry Kane were the men at the centre.

Kane was booed every time he made a mistake, while Nuno received chants of "You don't know what you're doing" following a decision to withdraw Lucas Moura in favour of Steven Bergwijn.

Spurs simply is not a happy place to be at the moment and something will need to change.

Either the manager or the results.