How Manchester United can follow Manchester City and dominate English football once again!

Manchester United’s loss to Manchester City in the week demonstrated more than just the difference in quality on the pitch. The two clubs have gone in opposite directions since 2013, but I believe Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can help rebuild the club again.

Following Manchester United’s 2-0 loss to PSG in the first leg of their Champions League tie at Old Trafford in February, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer jested, “mountains are there to be climbed” when asked about the prospect of an unlikely win in the French capital.

However, it seems that only now he has realised quite how big a mountain he has to scale if he is going to be the man to lead Manchester United back to the summit of English football.

Currently, a man named Pep Guardiola has already stabbed a pole into the peak. The flag blows chaotically in the wind with the Manchester City crest woven into the fabric. They are setting the standards on and off the pitch.

Recruitment

Manchester City have got their recruitment spot on over the past few seasons. In his first season, Guardiola settled in and sorted through who he wanted at the football club and who he didn’t. Allowing him to become ruthless in his second season where he dismissed 12 players.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is going to have to go through the same process. However, the Norwegian has an advantage in that he arrived in December, which by the time the summer comes around, would have given him five months to get an idea of who has made the cut.

City have also been clinical when signing players too. They have stood strong, aligned with their beliefs, heading into each transfer window with a strategy of who they want to sign and what they are prepared to pay. /

For example, when going up against United for Alexis Sanchez in January 2018, City were not prepared to break the bank. They didn’t allow the wages they offered to be driven up by competition from their fiercest rivals.

On the other hand, United went into those negotiations like a bull in a china shop. The Red Devils were prepared to pay whatever it took to sign him and look at how it has backfired. Not only has Sanchez failed to perform for the club, but, it has also created tension with other players who now wish to be on a similar, extortionate, wage.

Ed Woodward has not got a good track record so far with the players he has brought into the football club. It seems he has opted for players with a global brand, to appease the business side of the operations, rather than improve the team on the pitch.

United need to sign players who want to play for the club, understand the traditions and values of the badge and adhere to them. Perhaps the greatest signing of all this summer will be a Director of Football, though.

System, style and substance

Matters on the pitch will definitely improve once you start bringing in the right calibre of player to Manchester United. But that doesn’t mean Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s work is done. Part of the recruitment process will be signing players who fit into his style of play.

Irrespective who they sign, Solskjaer needs to heading into the start of the season with an identity. How does he want his Manchester United side to set up? How will he look to play away from home? Will he change style against the top six? /

Once the style is engrained into the players, motivation becomes key. Through those winter months when you have a clogged up fixture card and the legs feel a little heavy, can Ole keep the players hungry and in the right frame of mind.

If he brings in the right players, this should be less of an issue. The current crop at United are “bluffers”, as said by Roy Keane and clearly need to be kept motivated by a manager. This demonstrates more of a problem with the modern game in my view.

Both squads of Liverpool and City would equally drop their performance levels if Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, who are serial motivators, were not their respective managers. Can Solskjaer be as equally obsessive about winning and strive for perfection too? Time will tell.

Ole is climbing Everest

One thing for sure, Ole has a big job on his hands. I don’t think he would have expected to be as busy as he will this summer when he got appointed on a temporary basis back in December.

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But as much as the comparison to Manchester City is damning, it does highlight where United have seriously messed up ever since Sir Alex Ferguson, and potentially more importantly, David Gill left in 2013.

At whatever level of football, matters on and off the pitch go hand in hand. They affect one another simultaneously.

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