Paul Merson suggests Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s time could be almost up at Man United
Paul Merson claims that Man United are not likely to ever win the Premier League title under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Paul Merson has suggested that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s time at Manchester United could almost be up because the Norwegian has taken the club “as far as he can”.
The Red Devils suffered a disappointing defeat by Villarreal in the Europa League final on Wednesday night as they squandered the opportunity to win their first major trophy under Solskjaer.
Manchester United ended up losing to the Spanish side on penalties as they ended the campaign without a trophy once again.
Attentions will now inevitably turn towards the summer transfer window and the players Solskjaer could look to bring in to bolster his squad ahead of the new campaign.
However, former Arsenal star Merson is not sure that Solskjaer is the right man to take the Red Devils forward and he doubts that Manchester United will be able to win the league under the Norwegian.
Writing in his column for the Daily Star, Merson said: “Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has taken Manchester United as far as he can.
“I thought he was totally outwitted by Unai Emery in the Europa League final. Villarreal are not a great team, but he got out-coached.
“Arsenal got absolutely slaughtered for playing exactly the same way as United did against them. They were poor.
“You thought Solskjaer would change it. They had no pace up front, so what does he do? He puts Fred on!
“Marcus Rashford was having the worst game of his life. You have to see that as a manager. You have to accept it and take the guy off.
“And you have a goalkeeper who hasn’t saved a penalty in five years and never looked like saving one in the shoot-out. Take him off!”
Merson continued: “It’s too NICE for me. Ole is everyone’s mate. He’s not ruthless enough He probably didn’t want to upset people by making those subs.
“But United lost. And I thought they were atrocious. Slow. Predictable. Gave the ball away too much.
“Paul Pogba gave it away cheaply with a Hollywood pass gone wrong for the free kick Villarreal scored.
“Emery had a plan. But Solskjaer got embarrassed. This is the furthest he will take them. I don’t think he’s ever going to win them the league.”
Manchester United, who finished second and 12 points behind Manchester City this term, have not won the Premier League since their famous triumph under Sir Alex Ferguson back in 2013.
