Football has become a game of narratives. Everyone has their own agenda, whether it be social media or the traditional pundits. Now I'm not saying we're free from these biases either but instead of cherry-picking statistics we tried to look at things a little more objectively. Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is one of the most polarising figures in Football at the moment. Some say he's the second coming of Sir Alex, while others say he's no better than a PE teacher. So how good is he exactly? And is he the right man to continue the red devil renaissance?

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Post-Fergie Slump

Everyone knew replacing a manager like Ferguson was going to be nigh impossible. The chosen one, David Moyes did not turn out to be the best direct replacement. No one knows what might have been had he been given more time, but there's always going to be what ifs. LVG was actually a decent manager, steadying the ship, and blooding youngsters into the first team albeit playing a very dry brand of football. Mourinho was the first manager who won trophies and came closest to challenging for the title but soon 3 seasons were over and the usual fallout from the dressing room led to the hot-seat going to Ole.

A disclaimer here is that the number of matches played is different, with Moyes playing significantly less matches, but LVG is comparable with 76, and Jose and Ole level with 93. So for the sake of comparison we can see that Ole has done slightly worse than his counterparts. Probably the biggest reason for this is consistency. Both LVG and Mou had periods where they were not great but the variance in the unbeaten and winless streaks for Ole is extremely high. Even in his first (half) season as manager, post the magical night in Paris, United only won 2 matches from 12 in all competitions. Another stat is the home and away form in the current season. People might argue that with the lack of crowds and the pandemic things are very different and for the most part that is true. But the difference is too large to ignore. 4 wins in 9 at home and 6 in 7 away. The inconsistency has persisted with the team hitting patches of form and running out of just as quickly.

Also for reference, SAF in his last 272 Premier League matches had a win percentage of 70.6 and won 2.01 points per game. So, before you start slandering me the "slump" is very much real, even with title charges and a few trophies.

Buckling Under Pressure

A pattern has emerged where Ole's men don't have enough cojones to see through difficult moments on the pitch. 3 failed semi-final attempts last year. Losing out on the UCL knockout stages when the tough matches were done. Literally having to draw the game against a team they had scored 5 past, they still failed.

While Bruno Fernandes' arrival has affected the mentality of the team positively, most of the squad are not winners. Even in the PL their record against the big 6 is not very flattering. Especially when compared to the last few managers.

Very honestly, even this season with the supposed title charge, they have consistently made it harder for themselves by conceding first in all away games bar one which they ended up drawing anyway. There is this pattern of pulling out results from tough games, but combined with the inconsistency is form no one can tell how long this can continue for. While a few trophies will do a world of good for this team, in its current shape I don't believe they can actually win the big titles.

Winning because of Ole or despite him

The most abstract of my evaluation criteria is the results that come are not affected much by Ole directly. I know it is a big assumption but hear me out. While I feel that his impact has largely been positive, it is not on the scale of a Ferguson or even Mourinho. The biggest problem is that there is no distinct style, you don't look at how United play and say that's a Solskjaer team. Again, the pragmatism and trying to play the best players in their preferred positions is appreciated but I do not believe he is able to get the absolute best out of them. A symptom of the shifting styles of play is the inconsistency, and while the team is currently in form they are always 2 bad games away from a crisis.

Another plaudit of Ole has been his recruitment. Since I do not know how much Woodward or the rest of the backroom staff play in the recruitment, I can only assume that the manager plays at least a major role in acquiring new talent. For all of Maguire's problems both on and off the pitch, along with Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Alex Telles, the Manchester United defense looks better than it has in years. Add to that a consistent Lindelof and fully fit Eric Bailly and you could argue that it's a silverware winning backline. But the main uptick in results coincides with one of the best players in recent history to put on the red shirt. Bruno Fernandes. While there is an inconsistency with Ole, since Bruno's arrival Man United have looked a different side. People have compared him to Eric Cantona and the comparisons are fair if you look at the numbers.

The shift in mentality, the ability to get results even when things are not going their way. Is it because of Ole? Or is it because they finally have a player in the middle of the park to demand quality the way Cantona or Keane used to? Its tough to say as an outsider but the numbers, press conferences, interviews, and the games themselves definitely point towards Bruno's impact being slightly more visible than Ole's

Now, coming back to the title of this article, is Ole the man to lead United back to the glory days? If you ask me, I say no. I respect him for the job he has done so far, patching up a broken dressing room, getting rid of deadwood, and signing top players. But, he just isn't the sort of manager like a Klopp or a Jose that can change the outlook of an entire club and make them winners. In my opinion, United should thank him for the stellar job he's done and bring in a serial winner as soon as possible. With the current lack of top managers in the market maybe his job is safe at the moment, but Ed Woodward definitely needs to start weighing up his options come summer of 2021.

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A united fan from the glory days of Rooney and Ronaldo, Ribhu just wants to see them back where they belong. @ribhu97

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