Before Manchester United decided to fire him, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was actually beginning to implement something he has not done since the start of the season.
Surely, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did not want to end his time with Manchester United the way it did. Since being appointed as the club's manager in 2019, Solskjaer has always been open to changes and the arrival of his former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo certainly serves as a proof.
In fact, a few days before Manchester United return from the international break to face Watford, Solskjaer has reportedly “promised” to get some of his back-up players “more involved” in the next games, an approach he has shied away from during the devastating defeats to Liverpool, Leicester City and Manchester City.
Among the said players mentioned in the said report were Donny van de Beek, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard, Dean Henderson, Eric Bailly, Diogo Dalot, Juan Mata and Alex Telles.
To everybody's surprise, the Norwegian did not break the said promise. During the Watford match, Solskjaer threw in Jesse Lingard, Donny van de Beek, Diogo Dalot and Anthony Martial into the game as substitutes. What's even more worth noting, it actually worked at one point.
It can be recalled that Van de Beek even scored Manchester United's only goal in the game. However, along with Solskjaer's new strategy came the real problem–the club allowed too many easy goals.
Despite another defeat, Solskjaer remained very optimistic regarding how the club could bounce back in the next games. However, Manchester United had decided that he has used up all his chances and eventually pulled the plug.
“It’s been a ball,” Solskjaer said in his first interview after being fired via Manchester Evening News. “Let’s keep supporting this team, you’ve got to stick with them. They’ve [the fans] been amazing with me since one of my first kicks on the ball, I scored with one of the first ones, until now. And I’m sure we’ll meet again because if there’s anywhere, I’m going to watch football games, that’s from Old Trafford.”
At this point, no one could assume whether Solskjaer's new game plan was the only thing Manchester United needed all this time.
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