The man management, the myth & the legend

By Kieren Hassan, published on 14/08/21

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was bought into a side that were 6th in the table, on 0 GD (Goal difference) & had 26 points in 17 games as José Mourinho was released from his duties at Old Trafford. At the time, Solskjaer only really had his time in the academy, his time at Molde winning their first league title & then his stint at an under invested Cardiff as credentials. When he came in, it was more of the Glazers & Woodward trying to calm the fans down with how upset everyone had become with results, performances & investment into the team, surely United fans couldn’t turn on one of their own.

Some will argue that Solskjaer is just managing off of vibes & good feelings rather than being tactically aware, which to an extent can be true as some Managers are better tactically & some better at the man management side when leading their side to silverware. Solskjaer isn’t a tactical genius or going to overthink his tactics like a Guardiola may do, but instead stick to his strengths & learn off the biggest & best Manager to grace the game Sir Alex Ferugson, who was very similar. This isn’t to compare the two or say Solskjaer will be as great, but purely to show Ferguson delegated the training sessions to his coaching staff & then was the best at man management there ever was, which Solskjaer will also do, whilst taking a load on himself.

The first example of Solskjaer’s man management would be in general, Mourinho had ended up having digs at the Owners, branding Paul Pogba a virus after a 2-2 draw with Southampton, Criticizing Shaw was needing his brain to play & pushing out players such as Chris Smalling & Henrik Mkhitaryan who Mourinho has now joined at Roma. Solskjaer has done none of that.

Below was one of Solskjaer’s most important interviews about how he will change this club, be successful but if you don’t have the heart, desire or work ethic to be at a club like Manchester United, you won’t be here to see that success after a heavy 4-0 defeat to Everton whilst United were trying to get Champions League football.

Solskjaer said “I'm gonna be successful here and there are players there that won't be part of that.”

From this interview onwards he was allowed to make signings & take the club in a direction in which he has been bought into & how he wanted it to be seen.

Luke Shaw is the first to show how Solskjaer's one to one style has helped change the team & club as a whole. When Solskjaer came it had looked like Luke Shaw was down & out, confidence low & potentially looking at the exit, but Solskjaer coming in gave Shaw one last chance to prove himself to be the player we had seen pre-injury in 2015, Ole knew he had that in him & how to get the best out of him.From this we’ve now seen Luke become the leagues best Left back & one of the best left backs in world football over the last 18 months as huge part of the Manchester United team.

“Ole just showed his belief and confidence in me, and he made me feel like I was a part of a team, you know? And I feel that was the difference. I think I felt a part of the team with Ole” Luke Shaw in an interview on the difference of how he felt in two photo’s under Mourinho & Solskjaer.

Paul Pogba is another one in which Mourinho had an hot & cold relationship with, ending in a bad note of it seeming it was one or the other that would go, Mourinho being the loser & Pogba still here today. Solskjaer has put his arm around Solskjaer, just like Shaw & made him feel like this is a family, something you not only get paid to do but that there is a willingness to fight & stride forward with the club, a bond & each & every player & member of staff is fighting in the same direction. Regardless of if Pogba leaves or not, his comments since Solskjaer has come in, added onto the fact his agent Raiola & brothers seemingly speak less about trying to move him away speaks volumes about him enjoying his time at United more. This isn’t to say he’s not leaving or they don’t want him to move, but purely that it’s not as hostile a situation as it was pre-Solskjaer.

"Maybe [Solskjær's methods work] because he is a bit closer to the people. Every coach has their own way to coach and deal with players, and as a player you have to adapt. Sometimes it doesn't suit you and sometimes it does." Paul Pogba on Solskjaer’s methods within the squad.

The Dean Henderson & David De Gea saga is another situation in which Solskjaer has handled very well, keeping Henderson last season to compete with De Gea after Sergio Romero’s move to Everton got pulled away was a good decision. Henderson being seen as the future of the club was to slowly take over that role from a declining David De gea. Solskjaer used Henderson in the cup games as you would normally use your second choice GK, to then wait until the birth of De Gea’s child happened for De Gea to be given time off & Henderson the platform to now take the role. This meant no questions could be given on why De Gea had been dropped & more so that Henderson was given a few games to gain form & earn it on merit, which he did till the end of the season.

A forgotten player in this would be Harry Maguire, the player that was being laughed at as an 80m flop, had been arrested & charged as a criminal when trying to enjoy a holiday Mykonos & having the worst time of his career during last summer, it looked like Maguire mentally could collapse for United. Starting off the season Maguire did look shaky & a bit off with everyone happening around him, but Solskjaer carried on picking his Captain instead of pulling him out & potentially killing any confidence left, he kept on praising him & Maguire ended up becoming a key reason I believe United didn’t win the 2021 Europa League final as well as being in the Team of the Tournament at Euro 2020, Maguire with the help of Solskjaer’s man management & protection have certainly turned the last 12 months around.

Mason Greenwood the next in our line up, having a poor few weeks where he got caught up on England duty with Phil Foden inviting girls to the team hotel & breaking COVID protocols ending up with Greenwood (somehow not Foden) to be excluded from the England squad & killing his Euro 2020 chances. Ole had rather than get involved in blasting Greenwood publicly, turned it around into him questioning England calling Greenwood up into the team so close to a long season already for the youngster, deflecting the media stories rather than letting it get any bigger or affect Greenwood, Mason since then had started to learn under the wing of Edison Cavani & transition from right wing to the central role having 12 goals & 6 assists in 52 games whilst learning his role under Cavani.

Speaking of Edison Cavani, Solskjaer seems to be one of if not the main reason Cavani is staying at the Theatre of Dreams for one more year, his own father had said it was extremely likely that his son would end up moving to play for Boca Juniors at the end of the season for this to come out once Cavani had decided to stay for an extra 12 months. Cavani “I feel a deep bond with my team-mates and the staff who work behind the scenes here. They give me extra motivation every day and I know that, together, we can achieve special things. From the very first moment that I arrived, I felt the confidence of the manager.” Solskjaer’s not only been able to bring a load of top players to United, but also keep them when the tides look like they won’t.

Solskjaer will do plenty of things in the media that if you don’t follow the patterns you’ll miss out on or assume he’s being serious with but overall it’s just good man management. Some of these are things such as; Not coming out & saying you want a player gone, Ole will talk positively about them in the media & talk them up, because not only does it help with getting a better fee, but it also means if the player sticks around they’re in a happier place if and when called upon. Such things have happened with Alexis Sanchez, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young & Marcus Rojo. You may also see these same things have or will happen this window with potential outgoings to help push a deal like Paul Pogba, Diogo Dalot & Andreas Pereira.

This kind of man management has clearly spread across from players to their peers in such as Jadon Sancho hearing about it through his England teammates under Solskjaer as well as Erling Haaland who was at Molde under Solskjaer; Raphael Varane through Paul Pogba in the French camp proving that although Ole isn’t known for questionable but match winning tactical shake ups on the level of Pep, man management can also be a huge part in football & why I back Solskjaer to be successful, just like his teacher Sir Alex was. There are a lot more instances & players in which Solskjaer has helped with his man management & hopefully he continues to do it as the progress made under him shows that it’s working & with a young team that United have, they’re only going to get better & better until we hear those famous words “And Solskjaer has won it!”.