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Manchester United feels like Manchester United again thanks to the cherubic baby-faced manager in the dugout.
In the BBC drama United – based on the 1958 Munich air crash – assistant coach Jimmy Murphy (played by the sublime David Tennant) explains what can be described as the Manchester United way that defined the Busby era and was subsequently reproduced by Fergusson.
Murphy tells the Busby Babes as they warm up: “Football is a simple game. You win the ball. You pass the ball. You score a goal. All else is an embellishment. Thank the good Lord, we don’t embellish on natural beauty. The ball’s round to go around.” It's a belief reiterated by Bill Shankly, legendary Liverpool manager who lamented that football 'was a simple game complicated by idiots'.
It flies in the face of the tactic-driven era of today where we are so hell-bent on labelling different footballing philosophies. Is it Klopp’s gegenpressing? Pep Guardiola’s tiki-taka? Mourinho’s park-the-bus-till-we-die-of-boredom? Or is it just 11 blokes running after a ball enjoying themselves?
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the interim manager handpicked by the powers-that-be to return some acche din seems to live by the same rules as opposed to the tactics-heavy predecessors like Van Gaal and Mourinho.He is also - as we’ve witnessed during his long-playing career - a nice bloke who will take one for the team when needed.
The man from the land of fire and ice has injected some much-needed optimism in the decaying football giant after the sacking of Jose Mourinho.In two games, Manchester United have scored eight goals and conceded just two. More importantly, they are playing with a smile on their face and a skip in their steps.
During his playing days, Solskjaer was known as the Baby-Faced Assassin, the angel with a cherubic face and ice in his veins, who finished with like a pool shark. There’s another aspect of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that is little-remembered. He was a true team player, never breaking down the manager’s door demanding a first-team spot. Also, he could be counted on to do what was needed to ensure victory.
In one match against Newcastle United, Solskjaer ran the length of the pitch to hack down Rob Lee which earned him a red card and a standing ovation, a testament to his desire to make sure United won.
While Mourinho – as he is wont to do in the third season – started to suck the life out of all those around him in classic Dementor-style, Solskjaer has become the disinfecting sunlight that the club craved. It’s almost therapeutic for Manchester United fans to see Solskajer sitting in the dugout flanked by Ferguson’s long-term deputy and first-team coach Mike Phelan and former midfield maestro Michael Carrick. These are men who understand the ethos of this club. It’s not Sir Alex Ferguson back in the dugout but it’s still men who understand what Manchester United stand for.
More importantly, it’s about playing in a way that is defined by Manchester United not the opposition as has been the case over the last three years.
So when he took over as interim manager and was asked whether he’d scouted the opposition (Cardiff and Huddersfield), he gave the answer that’s expected of a Manchester United manager: “I’ve seen all the teams. I’ve got a little bit of a view on them but it’s not about the opposition. It’s about us. It’s about Man United. It’s about our players knowing what they can do. We want to see them express themselves. My main focus of course will be on us, how we want the team to play, and then we’ll give them one or two details about the opposition.”
This was the philosophy that defined Manchester United even if it meant losing as they did twice against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in the 2009 and 2011 final. Ferguson could’ve tried the Inter Milan-Mourinho technique of parking the bus to counter the midfield marvels of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi but he didn’t. It simply wasn’t the Manchester United way. It’s something Solskjaer seems to understand as well and the players appear to be responding to this positivity.
In two games, they have scored eight goals and conceded two. More importantly, they no longer seemed to be captivated by the fear of failure, they are not afraid to express themselves.Marcus Rashford picked to lead the line is playing with a man on a mission and at moments, his first-touch was reminiscent of United icon Dimitar Berbatov.
Seeing the likes of Lingard, Rashford, Pogba and Martial run at opposition while passing the ball makes one wonder why Mourinho was so reluctant to unleash these ‘mad dogs’, instead throwing the Groot-sized Maroune Fellaini at every problem.
Solskajer is also not averse to giving youth a chance and the match against Huddersfield ended with United fielding a front four of Angel Gomes, Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard – all of them academy graduates.
Pogback
One of Mourinho’s late-career pitfalls has been falling out with star players. At Real Madrid, he fought with legend Iker Casillas (a fight that lingers) while at Chelsea he managed to dampen the enthusiasm of Eden Hazard.
At United it was with Pogba, often dropping the player despite the fact that no one in United’s midfield has anything resembling the Frenchman’s gifts
The pair clashed to the extent that Mourinho called the World Cup winner a virus, while Pogba celebrated Mourinho’s dismissal by posting an Instagram picture of himself grinning like the Cheshire cat and reportedly said after his sacking, “He messed with the wrong baller.”
Mourinho’s failure to get the best of Pogba became symptomatic of the larger malaise that plagued the club. And yet, Solskajer has managed to turn around Pogba – a player he knew well when he coached the Reserves – in just two games.
Allowing him a free-roaming role in a midfield three has freed up Pogba to exhibit the gifts that helped him to a World Cup medal. The modern-day game is such that the Roy Keane style of box-to-box midfield play is almost impossible and a man of Pogba’s talents should be allowed more presence in the final third. Solskajer seems to get it, and Pogba has repaid his faith with two assists and two goals in two games.
In fact, after his 2nd goal against Huddersfield, he even threw in a celebration that reminded every Manchester United fan of Eric Cantona as the entire stadium stood up to applaud him. The only thing missing was the upturned collar.
Paul Pogba’s finish yesterday was so cold
— T №¹-Yahya (@RealistYahz) December 27, 2018
Eric Cantona type celebration whilst the crowd stand up to their feet pic.twitter.com/cyGXjt4QT3
As a delighted Solskajer explained after the match against Huddersfield: “I was very pleased for him and the whole team. He loves football and has a big smile. That's the Paul I have known since he was in the reserves and youth team. He's always been a happy boy, a big smile on his face and when you score two you're happy. It's a response and Paul loves playing for this club. He's a Manchester United boy through and through and knows what it means to play for the club."
Pogba’s joie de vivre – the kind that saw him show French President Emmanuel Macron how to dab – has returned and it seems to be spreading through the club like a virus.
Of course, tougher times will come. Huddersfield and Cardiff are barely world-beaters, and there will be much bigger tasks for both the club and Solskjaer but for now United fans can afford to smile a bit again. Manchester United feels like Manchester United again thanks to the cherubic baby-faced manager in the dugout.
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