JAKARTA - How do you conclude a match like that? "This is football," Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told Sky Sports after Manchester United were held to a 3-3 draw by Sheffield United, Sunday, November 24, evening. In particular, he added: "The difference between this year's team and last year is huge."
Put simply, it is the most recent Premier League away game of the season that the Red Devils have not won. Previously, Solskjaer failed to earn full points at the home of Wolves, Southampton, West Ham, Newcastle United and Bournemouth.
Five wins from six matches in all competitions before the weekend is enough to say Solskjaer has managed to get his players excited again. Then, in the week that Mauricio Pochettino was unemployed after being sacked by Tottenham Hotspur, they produced their worst 70 minutes in recent months. Two goals down in Sheffield!
12 - Manchester United have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 12 top-flight away games, their worst streak since a run of 15 in the 1985-86 campaign. Leaky. pic.twitter.com/1QKTUzgrew
- OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 24, 2019
Luckily the Red Devils managed to get up and were still able to end the match with a score of 3-3 through goals scored by Brandon Williams (72 '), Mason Greenwood (77') and Marcus Rashford (79 '). Such was life under Solskjaer: signs of progress and moments of excellence that seemed only to ensure that the next setback was still newsworthy.
In the first half of the match, the Red Devils only managed to make one shot. This is both the lowest accomplishment under Solskjaer and the worst first half of his tenure. Phil Jones 'recklessness who made his league debut this season resulted in Sheffield's first goal through John Fleck in the 19' after Jones lost to a body match to Lys Mousset.
3-4-3 patterns, line-ups, instructions - it all looks wrong. Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Daniel James were so lifeless. Andreas Pereira also did not move between being pinned by the Sheffield United players almost every time he had the ball. Williams, after several promising weeks in the first team, was intimidated and beaten very easily. The score became 2-0 through Mousset's additional goal in the 52nd minute.
Sheffield United is everything the Red Devils don't have: well trained, hardworking, fast and accurate with the ball, fierce without the ball. They pulled the visitors out of position and surged into the gap, while their opponents played at such a slow pace that even 46-year-old Solskjaer might be able to play in.
A number of newspapers were ready to make MU in the headlines, the #OleOut cries were getting louder, and Pochettino's name was getting more and more echoed. And then, within seven minutes, the young lads to whom Solskjaer had their hands showed they would not let his manager silently walk off into the night. They stand up for Solskjaer!
Williams pulled off a pretty sweet half-volley in the 72nd minute, becoming United's youngest player in three years to score in the Premier League until Greenwood added United's goal five minutes later. When Martial, James and Rashford finally found their lives, Rashford tore the Sheffield defense down to 3-2 in the 79th minute.
Almost unbelievable, but this is United in the Sir Alex Ferguson era when Solskjaer was still playing. Catch up! At this point, Pochettino's name seems to be forgotten again as a stunning comeback on behalf of Solskjaer gives an important signal that they don't need an Argentinian coach. But before the match was over, the Norwegian man had to share the blame for his team's failure.
2 - Manchester United have had two teenagers score in a Premier League game for the first time since October 2005 against Sunderland (Wayne Rooney and Giuseppe Rossi). Adolescent. pic.twitter.com/ryWdH0vOAP
- OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 24, 2019
Replacing Martial with defender Axel Tuanzebe in hopes of defending the win turned out to be bad. United failed to clear their penalty box and let Oli McBurnie equalize in the 90th minute. United's setback was back in the news. The name Pchettino came back.
They are now ninth, closer to the relegation zone than the top four, 20 points adrift of leaders Liverpool ... but will fight to the death. For the sake of 'The Baby-faced Assassin'.
The coach will stay behind the wheel, at least in the eyes of the players. He will grind the gear, turn into traffic, but his gaze remains forward. Will the players fight for Pochettino the same way?
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
