Same club, same players and probably same fans are what Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho share in common at Old Trafford.
But there is one thing that the current manager Solskjaer does that his predecessor Mourinho could not do to make the club be where it is now.
Ten Premier League games into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s time as Manchester United’s caretaker manager and even the two games that he has not won have felt like victories.
There was no late comeback like against Burnley this time, but the goalless draw with Liverpool denied their great rivals two points and was achieved in the face of adversity.
If Solskjaer thought losing two players by half-time as he did against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League was a test, how about three and a half?
The United boss was not only forced to make three substitutions due to injuries to Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard, but he had to make do with a half-fit Marcus Rashford for the full 90 minutes.
The response that he received from his players spoke volumes – and volume was certainly the word at Old Trafford on Sunday.
The supporters have endured some dull goalless draws in recent seasons, but this was different. They recognised early on that their team were up against it and loudly backed them throughout. “This ground is alive,” said Gary Neville.
“We learnt a lot about the mood of the club in that second half. Three months ago they were singing ‘attack, attack, attack’ and today they were singing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s name for all of the second half.
The mood has completely transformed – the atmosphere was one of the best I’ve seen at Old Trafford for years and it was 0-0.”
This is a clear indication that Solskjaer has been able to tame players and fans and put them to his confidence- a thing that Jose Mourinho was not able to do.