The Reds boss has defended his in-game decisions following a series of under-par performances, but in truth, he must now take more risks. Manchester City moved back to the top of the Premier League table with another hard-fought 1-0 victory, this time over Bournemouth, to prove they have nerves of steel in the title race.
Meanwhile, Liverpool drew yet another match, their inferior quality from the bench and Jurgen Klopp’s hesitant tactical decisions costing them the three points at Goodison Park. But what did we learn from the weekend’s action?
As the weeks go by it is increasingly difficult to ignore Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s tactical acumen at Old Trafford. Despite numerous injuries to first-team players, Manchester United came back from behind to beat Southampton on Saturday courtesy of Solskjaer’s formation switch in the second half, moving from a diamond 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2 when Alexis Sanchez was replaced by Diogo Dalot in the 52nd minute.
Ashley Young played well as a right-sided centre-back, allowing United’s midfielders to push higher up the pitch, safe in the knowledge that Southampton’s counterattacks would be controlled by a three-man defence.
The switch mostly benefitted Andreas Pereira, who moved into the number 10 role behind Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford; Pereira scored United’s first then set up the second from this adjusted position. United used six academy products over the course of the 90 minutes, while Lukaku’s form notably improved and the team found a way of creating chances even without Paul Pogba playing particularly well. Solskjaer can do no wrong.