Man United: How many more times will Solskjaer be bailed out by his stars?

 

'Yes! The Theater Of Dreams is on fire! We are alive! We are Man United and we never give up! This is Old Trafford!'

So bellowed Cristiano Ronaldo to his 358million Instagram followers after another pretty decent night for Manchester's self-styled magic factory.

It all contributes to the United mystique, doesn't it? The tightrope football, the thrillingly open games, the jeopardy of falling behind, the inevitability of the stirring comeback.

What became the hallmark of Sir Alex Ferguson's United sides has returned with regularity under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. You simply can never write United off. Football, bloody hell.

The fans lap it all up and why wouldn't you? But relying on Ronaldo and United's other stars to continually bail him out just isn't sustainable for Solskjaer.

Ronaldo's late header to cap a fightback from two goals down to beat Atalanta on Wednesday night disguised another overall performance that fell well short of the standards United should be setting.

Solskjaer's team were hopelessly exposed in defense time after time by an Atalanta team who knew full well there would be generous space and sluggish closing down to exploit.

It was the same in their last Champions League outing against Villarreal when they were comprehensively outplayed before Ronaldo's 96th-minute rescue act earned an undeserved victory.

In the Premier League this season, we've witnessed late winners by Mason Greenwood at Wolves and Jesse Lingard at West Ham.

It is, of course, the job of quality players to win matches for their team but Solskjaer should be uncomfortable that it happens so often.

If things were truly moving forward at United under the Norwegian, given the extensive quality he has at his disposal, then matches would be wrapped up much earlier.

Serious doubts remain that Solskjaer's United play with any kind of identity or game plan, there are questions over the midfield and whether Ronaldo's return has unsettled the balance of the attack.

If you can see through the magic of these moments - and they're no more than moments - you come to understand that it is not a long-term strategy to play the way United are and simply hope for salvation every time.

Paul Scholes, never one to mince his words, articulated the issue soberly once heartbeats had settled on Wednesday night.

'I get the United excitement, that first-half put me off the second-half. If they were playing a better side they would have been out of sight,' Scholes said on BT Sport.

'The display was something I did not enjoy, it was worrying, it lacked unity and to me, can they go and play against better teams like that? No.

'For a neutral it was a great game, full of excitement and goals but I am being realistic about what is to come. I expect more from them, they cannot keep conceding chances like that.

'They were playing a decent team but not world class, you cannot get too carried away.'

Plenty will, but his point about United looking like a team of individuals is spot on. Leicester exposed this fact just a few days ago - they reduced Ronaldo, Greenwood and Jadon Sancho to the roles of anonymous bystanders, knowing cracks would appear elsewhere.

Atalanta spent 45 minutes gleefully prodding at defensive soft tissue, scoring twice. But Solskjaer has such attacking depth, he can continue throwing on more potential game-changers like Sancho, Paul Pogba or Edinson Cavani until the game does actually change.

He got away with it against Atalanta but is unlikely to be so fortunate should United fall two behind to Liverpool at Old Trafford this Sunday. Other upcoming games are against Tottenham, Atalanta again, Manchester City and Chelsea.

If Solskjaer is to get through all that unscathed, he'll likely need more bail-outs.

Leicester played last weekend like a cohesive team, following a well-honed and well-explained game plan devised by Brendan Rodgers. Liverpool, City and Chelsea, who all look streets ahead of United at the moment, will do similar.

Yet United's record in the biggest games in nearly three years of Solskjaer is pretty good. He undoubtedly has the tactical acumen to ensure United match their strongest opponents blow for blow.

Just ask Pep Guardiola, who has been outwitted by Solskjaer three times in five league encounters with another drawn.

Chances are, United will come out on top in one or two of those tricky games and Solskjaer will bank just enough credit to continue in the job.

It's happened before. In 2019-20, United lost to West Ham and Newcastle in the league and scraped past Rochdale in the Carabao Cup. Then somehow they held title-bound Liverpool to their only league draw between August and February.

A few weeks later, after shaky draws against Sheffield United and Aston Villa, they beat Tottenham and City in the space of four days and Solskjaer soldiered on.

There were some jeers as United went in two down to Atalanta but the vast majority of the match-going United support are still behind the manager.

It was apparent in the way the Old Trafford singing section sang 'Ole's at the wheel' prior to kick-off and then remained behind to sing his name as he completed the round of post-match interviews.

The good times feel better with such a club legend in charge and there has been progress over the last three years. But United still look some way short of properly challenging for the major honors despite enormous transfer spending.

Even with Ronaldo, Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Pogba, Cavani and everyone else to dig them out of trouble in games, too many will be lost or drawn along the way.

It's really United's rival fans who are enjoying all this. Solskjaer wins just enough of the key games to keep the wolf from the door when it comes to the sack without making United strong enough to compete.

So on they go, those dramatic late winners papering over the cracks. Well, it's a kind of magic.