Former Manchester United player Paul Scholes has called the tactics of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer against Manchester City into question. Speaking on the outcome of the match, the club legend said that Solskjaer has got to stick to one formation and have conviction about it.
Solskjaer lined up his team in a 3-5-2 formation as they welcomed Pep Guardiola’s City side to Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon. The United team barely got a foothold in the game, recording just four touches in the opposition box during the entire match.
Scholes highlighted the apparent uncertainty in Solskjaer’s game, berating the manager’s lack of identity despite being three years in the job at Old Trafford.
“The conviction has to come from the coach of the way you are going to play football. Ole has been here three years now and we have come here today not really knowing what he’s going to do,” Scholes said in his chat with Premier League Productions.
The 46-year-old pointed out that Solskjaer’s lack of a defined playing system makes a recruitment plan impossible, as the club keeps getting a variety of players and trying to shoehorn them into a system.
Scholes pointed out that the United manager could look to Premier League rivals Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp on how to recruit specific players for a system, highlighting the signings of Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez at Manchester City, and Diogo Jota at Liverpool as examples of players who fit into the respective clubs’ playing systems.
Scholes reiterated: “That makes the recruitment almost impossible because you are not buying players for a system. Look at Pep [Guardiola], he will buy players for a system. He brought [Jack] Grealish this year for his system, he brought [Riyad] Mahrez in for his system. Jurgen Klopp brings Diogo Jota in as another forward for his system. We’re bringing players in and trying to shoehorn them into positions.
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“Three years down the line you can see the evidence on the pitch, today and two weeks ago we’re a long way off. I do think we have got a group of good players, but Ole has to convince everyone that he’s the right man to find the right formation for this team.”
The former Salford coach slammed the 3-5-2 formation that the Norwegian has deployed in recent games, stating that the system doesn’t fit the players at the club. Scholes particularly had strong words for United right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka, stating that the defender is ‘useless on the ball.’
“Stop messing about changing it for everyone else. He’s got to now have a conviction. Whatever it’s, I don’t care, just have that conviction. I said before that the 3-5-2 doesn’t suit the players in the team. Wan Bissaka is useless on the ball, brilliant defender but useless on the ball at right-back.
“Three center-halves today, none of them that good on the ball. Ole has got to find a way and it is a job, by the way. There is a squad of players there that could be OK,” the United legend concluded.
In a related development, fellow United legend Gary Neville suggested that the United board does not dare sack Solskjaer yet.
In a Twitter post, he pointed out that United Executive Vice-Chairman Ed Woodward would be reluctant to sack a manager he just handed a three-year contract to.
“The situation at United is made more complicated with Ed W leaving in weeks. He gave OGS a 3-year contract months ago and he won’t want his final act to be sacking a manager. However, he knows an incoming CEO could throw him overboard by doing just that and blaming him!” Neville posted on Twitter.
Saturday’s humbling defeat leaves Manchester United nine points off top spot in the Premier League.
