Man United's constant see-saw from crisis to ecstasy can't go on forever

With a massive derby against Manchester City coming up on Saturday lunchtime, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is facing yet another 'do or die' weekend

Tue, 02 Nov, 2021 - 22:22

Chris Hatherall

The old adage that you are only as good as your last game rings painfully true for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer right now, so the debt he owes to Cristiano Ronaldo is a big one.

With a massive derby against Manchester City coming up on Saturday lunchtime, the Norwegian was facing yet another ‘do-or-die’ weekend as his team trailed
2-1 in Bergamo with seconds to go.

But Ronaldo’s dramatic intervention, scoring his second of the night from what seemed only a half chance, saved Manchester United’s Champions League future for now and perhaps that of their manager too.

It’s hard to keep up with United’s highs and lows these days, or with the odds on whether manager Solskjaer is going to last the week, but they fluctuated during 95 minutes in Italy.

On October 24, after a 5-0 defeat to Liverpool, the Norwegian was a managerial pariah, a coach with no grasp of tactics who had lost the dressing room and who was, despite his currency with the United faithful, a dead man walking.

A few days later, on October 30, he was the comeback king who refused to lie down; having followed a feisty pre-match press conference with a 3-0 victory at Tottenham in which he trialled a new three-at-the-back system with great success.

Now, as we move into November, the pendulum keeps on swinging as United prepare for a potentially season-defining game against City at Old Trafford.

This draw in Bergamo, acheived so late on, keeps morale high even if the perforamnce didn’t really deserve it.

The quality of a fast-paced team goal, finished superbly by Ronaldo following a Bruno Fernandes back-heel, showed what United are capable of when they scored to level just before half-time.

But it masked a first half that was pretty poor, and by the end of the night it felt like a moment of quality in a quagmire of mediocrity — until Ronaldo struck again.

There were a lot of mistakes from the away side in the first half in particular, and not just David de Gea’s lack of concentration as he allowed Ilicic’s shot to go under his body for 1-0. There were also a string of missed passes, missed tackles and a poor mistake by the sloppy Paul Pogba which almost gifted Atalanta a second, only prevented by an excellent block by Eric Bailly — whose performance was one of the only positives of the night.

On the face of it, the line-up selected by Solskjaer in Italy was stronger than the one which shone in north London.

Pogba ought to offer more attacking threat than Fred, Marcus Rashford more pace than Edinson Cavani and Eric Bailly just as much defensive nous as Victor Lindelof.

It was no surprise to see the formation stay, either, given the fact that Manchester United had just kept only their second clean sheet of the season, in all competitions, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“It worked on Saturday, we felt we had a good balance and foundation,” reasoned Solskjaer in his pre-match pitchside interview as he explained the decision.

It soon became pretty clear that Atalanta would provide a very different challenge to Tottenham’s ineffectual and disinterested performance, however. They were quicker, sharper and hungrier, and caused problems whenever they attacked.

The home side deserved to be ahead in those early stages and it was only a superb move on the stroke of half-time, when United momentarily woke up, which changed the momentum of the tie.

Not that Solskjaer’s men took full advantage, however.

Returning to a back-four following a 37th minute injury to Raphael Varane, they failed to up the pace in the second half and paid the price when the energetic Zapata burst through yet again. The all-action striker easily hurdled Maguire’s half-hearted challenge, the defender appearing to believe his opponent to be offside, and United found themselves 2-1 down after VAR proved Harry wrong.

After that United huffed and puffed but with little end product, snuffed out by Atalanta’s man marking until Ronaldo’s late, late party piece.

So, where do we go from here?

Having pinned his future on three at the back, fate has now left Solksjaer pondering how to fill those three spaces for the biggest game of the season so far.

Lindelof was unavailable in Bergamo because of a ‘minor’ injury suffered in training, and Varane limped off, too, leaving only Bailly — who has endured so many injury issues himself — to partner Maguire.

Luke Shaw may be an option at centre-half if Lindelof does not recover in time, but the real focus for United is how they avoid another embarrassment against derby rivals, having suffered so badly against Liverpool.

This constant see-saw from crisis to ecstasy cannot continue forever, surely?

One more swing of the pendulum could well prove to be the last. Thanks to Ronaldo, however, we still don’t know for certain which way it will move — and nor do Manchester City.