Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United built for Champions League over Premier League
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 04/11/2020 at 07:10 GMT
Manchester United have achieved two wins from two games against Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig in Europe this season while they continue to struggle for form in the Premier League, sitting in 15th place with just two wins from six matches after Sunday's defeat to Arsenal. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side look most comfortable in the Champions League, writes Graham Ruthven.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Paul Pogba of Manchester United boards the plane ahead of the UEFA Champions League Group H stage match between Manchester United and Istanbul Basaksehir
Image credit: Getty Images
Even as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer basked in the glow of the night that still to this day defines his tenure as Manchester United manager, there must have been an acceptance on some level that it had been a fluke. That on any other night Paris Saint-Germain, sitting on a 2-0 lead after the first leg at Old Trafford, would have coasted into the quarter finals of the 2018/19 Champions League.
It was this win that effectively earned Solskjaer the United job on a permanent basis, and the good fortune quickly started to wear off thereafter, with his team winning just two of the nine Premier League games played between victory in the French capital and the end of the season.
In retrospect, though, what we saw in the final stages of that season wasn’t good fortune, but an indication of the sort of team Manchester United would be under Solskjaer. Whether by design or fault, the Norwegian has built a side best suited to the Champions League with consistent Premier League form still evading them.
The contrast between United’s fortunes at home and on the continent so far this season couldn’t be more stark. While Solskjaer’s side sit slumped in 15th place in the Premier League table with just two wins from six games, they are perched atop Group H in the Champions League with two wins from two.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2020/10/08/2910349-59819988-2560-1440.jpg)
Will Ole Gunnar Solskjaer get Man Utd firing in the Premier League and Champions League?
Image credit: Getty Images
United even repeated their Parc des Prince trick in their opening group-stage game of this year, as if to prove what happened there two years ago was no fluke. This time there was more structure and more logic to explain an away win over PSG, but nonetheless it was a result that underlined the qualities of Solskjaer’s side.
In essence, Manchester United are a reactive team under their current manager, with Solskjaer proven at pulling big results against big teams who seek to impose themselves on their opponents. This lends itself to the Champions League, where United are pitted against more ‘big teams’ than they are in the Premier League.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2020/11/03/2927762-60149208-2560-1440.png)
Dortmund superstar Haaland 'will land' at Liverpool - Euro Papers
Solskjaer might be tactically limited, but that’s not the same thing as being tactically inept. He has proven more than once that when faced with a clear task he is capable of coming up with an effective game plan - see the back three against PSG or the midfield diamond against RB Leipzig. It’s against fellow reactive teams and managers where Solskjaer has lacked the conviction to impose his own identity.
Of course, Solskjaer’s United wouldn’t be the first side to feel more at home on the continent. Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool, for instance, were always far stronger in Europe than they were domestically, winning the 2005 Champions League at the same time as finishing fifth in the Premier League. They finished third in the season they made the Champions League final in 2007, also making the semi-finals in 2008 and the quarter-finals in 2009.
Stylistically, there are obvious differences between the Liverpool side that went all the way in Europe 15 years ago and Solskjaer’s Manchester United, but there are similarities in the way both teams looked strongest in the Champions League, flipping the natural order that usually defines domestic and continental competition.
The irony in United’s start to the season is that while Solskjaer’s side have looked vulnerable at the back in their Premier League outings, the defence has performed well in the Champions League. Had it not been for an Anthony Martial own goal, Manchester United would have two clean sheets from two games.
Their reactivity might only carry them so far in this season’s Champions League, but there is enough evidence at hand to suggest the competition presents United with their best chance of success. Victory over PSG in February 2019 was a sign of things to come, but not in the way many saw it at the time.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article