The tale of two Uniteds continued at The Emirates last night with a 3-1 win over Arsenal.
We’ve had the worst of times. Now it’s the best of times. It’s the greatest transformation since Jeff Goldblum in The Fly.
When the team was announced with Romero in goal and three players who seriously underperformed under Mourinho – Bailly, Sanchez and Lukaku – also in the line-up, it looked like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had decided to concentrate on the League.
But it was just like the good old days at The Emirates, minus the Wenger Out banners. Two sublime goals, a third on the counter attack, a rapidly emptying stadium and even a punch-up thrown in for good measure, with Jesse Lingard, all 5’9” and 10 stone wringing wet of him, in the starring role played by Brian McClair and Roy Keane in the past.
👀 my memories of United v Arsenal, including the 21 man brawl where I was harshly treated by Keith Hackett after it all calmed down, he allowed me to remain on the pitch!!!
🤣🤣🤣 #ARSMUN pic.twitter.com/LtRlrRvuEj— Brian McClair (@BrianMcClair13) January 25, 2019
The players are clearly playing for the manager and each other. United have now won eight out of eight under Solskjaer. The longer this run goes on, the less it looks like a fluke.
It’s still too early for the club to make a decision on who should be the next permanent manager, but Solskjaer has passed every test put before him so far with flying colours.
He has beaten lesser teams and better teams with the same players who flopped under Mourinho. But can he beat the best?
If he does, and Ed Woodward replaces him with Zinedine Zidane or another big name manager, it would be the worst decision of his career as chief executive.
He can’t be that daft, can he?