After Manchester United’s humiliating 5-0 defeat by Liverpool on Sunday, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer faced predictable calls for him to be removed from his position and speculation began over his possible successor.
There is no indication, so far, that United intend to pull the plug on his nearly three year spell in charge of the club but with away games at Tottenham Hotspur and Atalanta followed by the visit of Manchester City to Old Trafford, the Norwegian needs to act quickly get his team back in shape.
United’s best performances under Solskjaer, such as wins against the likes of Manchester City and Paris St Germain, have come when the team has played counter-attacking football.
The most obvious route back to some sort of respectability is to make the most of the pace they have in the wide areas with players like Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Jadon Sancho.
But it is hard to see how that style could be fully effective with 36-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo leading the line.
Ronaldo can no longer move at the pace required from a central striker in such a style and the most logical decision would be to replace him with the more mobile Edison Cavani.
The Portuguese star could be the perfect ‘impact sub’, coming on to grab late winners, but is Solskjaer ready to bench a player who was signed to such fanfare only two months ago?
-REUTERS
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