The Return of the Red Devils

Every soccer fan is more than aware of the European club giant, Manchester United. The club is one of the most decorated teams in the world having won the most titles in England. They are also one of the only clubs to have ever won the treble: winning the league title, a domestic cup, and a continental cup all in one year. The club even has one of the best youth academies in the world, to the point where almost half of their players since WWII have come out of their youth academies. However, regardless of their winning history and talented youth, they have had quite a slow start this season.

Typically, the team will be at or near the top of the table throughout the season, but after several games, the club found itself at 10th out of 20; they began to lose against clubs who usually were “free wins” for them. The problems with the club stem from the relationship between the manager, Jose Mourinho, and his players. Although Mourinho had led the exceptional team to win a few trophies in the past couple years, he lost his form when he tried to change the positions with which the players were most comfortable. This made him lose favor with many of the players on the team, who started to perform poorly on the pitch through rejecting their responsibilities and being less productive. Inevitably, the Manchester United Board voted to fire Mourinho and appoint an interim manager for the rest of the season.

The Board appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjær, a Norwegian soccer manager and former Manchester United player. He was tasked with simply making sure that the club did not fall lower in the Premier League Table, but quickly he began to exceed expectation. His tactics mocked those that the club used to have in the late ’90s and early 2000s, back when the club was, arguably, at their best. The players immediately found favor in Ole because of his tactics; he seemed to find the exact position where each player was best. Players that had been failing under Mourinho began to shine like Paul Pogba, who has scored 4 goals and gotten 5 assists in just six games. Ole managed to comfortably win his first five games but his real challenge was his sixth match where he had to face Tottenham Hotspurs (Spurs) away. The Spurs have been a great team this season, positioning third in the table and even having beaten ManU earlier in the season. Nevertheless, Ole came out with success, beating the Spurs 1-0 and now has become the only Manchester United coach to win his first six matches.

If Ole can keep up this form, then he will certainly become the permanent manager of the club for several years. He has moved the team back up to sixth in the table, tied in points with the 5th place team, Arsenal. Grabbing the 4th place spot is now certainly in the realm of possibility, where they can play in the Champions League and try to win a continental cup. Ole’s winning form also means good news for ManU’s Champions League hopes this year as they made it out of the group stage and are set to play PSG in the round of 16. If Ole can beat Tottenham away, then he certainly can fare well against the French side in two legs.