What has happened since Ole got the permanent job?

Remember when Jose Mourinho said that last season's second place finish with this United side was the greatest achievement of his decorated managerial career? We all laughed, but now it appears that he really was right after all. I've given up trying to work out what's going on at this football club of ours. For three glorious months, three wonderful months when United threw off the self-imposed shackles to return to the halycon days of yesteryear, everything was rosy in the Old Trafford garden. Fans, players, management and board living side by side in perfect harmony.

Feeding off the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer feelgood factor and revitalised by the Midas touch of the Baby faced assassin, United could do no wrong. Nine successive wins, an unbeaten run of eleven games and players arising from their slumber to cut a swaggering swathe through all comers both at home and in Europe. Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea all fell under the spell of our caretaker manager, and PSG were sent packing against almost impossible odds on one of the greatest night's in United's long and proud history. Ole was at the wheel and it was the best we had felt as Reds for many a year.

If the miraculous events of the Parc des Princes presented me - and I'm sure many other Reds - with the recent zenith of our United supporting lives then what happened on Sunday at Goodison Park was the nadir. It takes some doing to pick out the low points from the last ten years of perjury, but this was surely it. Anyone can get beat, but what you simply cannot do is get beat by giving up. By not even trying. By stabbing your manager, and 650 million United fans worldwide, squarely between the shoulder blades. Work rate and effort cannot drop below the minimum standard expected of any United player. No one should ever lose 4-0 at Everton. Since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got the permanent gig 24 days ago (and even in his last game as temporary boss in the FA Cup at Wolves), we have gone back to the dark days of the moribund Mourinho. But why? It is a question that no one really knows the answer to, probably not even Solskjaer himself. Was his sensational run as interim boss just incredibly lucky? Was it having a fully fit squad to choose from, a happy team with no worries over loss of form or contract shenanigans? Was it the players throwing off the shackles and reinventing themselves with a point to prove playing under the positive guidance of a bona fide club legend? Or maybe Paul Ince's notion that merely not having Mourinho there any more was a weight off the shoulders? Or a combination of all of the above.
Whatever the reason, something has happened that has seen a steady dip in first results, then performances, since Solskjaer was announced as boss on a full time basis. Ole's at the wheel? He is, but on a road that is leading nowhere. Previously flawless, Ole's inexperience is coming to the fore and selection and tactical errors have crept in. The players have reverted back to their old ways. The Barcelona aggregate loss was just about acceptable, and an argument can be made that, even in defeat, the Reds have not been playing badly. But on a ground where David Moyes was sacked five years ago to the day, United were limp, lifeless and woefully abject.

It was clear that the plethora of problems that eventually proved too much even for Mourinho never went away, instead bubbling menacingly under the surface waiting to be exposed and rear their ugly heads again.

It is just Solskjaer's luck that at the moment he is looking ill equipped to deal with them.

Spineless, gutless, pathetic, heartless and fucking embarrasing (RANT!)

At least Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will avoid an Easter Monday execution. Five years on from their Easter Sunday humbling at Everton, Manchester United were as defeatist and listless as they were under David Moyes in a week they were ejected from the Champions League to ensure a trophyless season. Only they were worse. Solskjaer will not meet the same fate that his predecessor but two did back on this day in 2014, but the plethora of problems were once more exposed to the full by a rampant Everton in damningly brutal fashion.
City and Liverpool are going for the Premier League, United are outside the top four, unlikely to secure Champions League football, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are still starting, there are no leaders and the manager is starting to look out of his depth. Just like five years ago. United have come full circle.

 The problem at United is not the manager. How can it be when we're four bosses down the line but no further forward. We tried thinking outside the box with the Moyes experiment and failed. We tried the proven, world class big hitters in Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho and failed there, too. Now we've got one of our own. Solskjaer faces the same rancid, rotten structure and the same not good enough, mentally weak players. The sulphurous dressing room rallied for three months in the wake of Jose Mourinho's removal but Solskjaer's predecessor had sussed many of them. Whatever characters there are in the squad, they are not good enough and those deemed good enough do not have the required character. Jose Mourinho was right after all.
United have not reached the expiry date of that six-year Moyes contract and they are in the same position as they were in the first post-Ferguson season. If the board did not just consist of Glazer siblings and economics graduates - and also had a football presence - then change would be inevitable. Instead we've got a useless, ragtag jumbled collection of discombobulated pieces in the corridors of power. Disinterested Yanks and a glorified banker in Ed Woodward (or should that be w****r). They have lurched from knee-jerk decision to knee-jerk decision on a bi-annual basis and their complacency and incompetence is unmatched among the elite. Astonishingly, the structure is expected to remain unchanged for the upcoming summer transfer window. Poisonous leeches killing this club, bleeding it dry and ripping its heart out. If Manchester United are to improve, the board must be sacked. I'm sick of saying it now. Spineless, gutless, pathetic, embarrassing and a shambles. How can you go into a must win game like that and not even bother to put in a performance. Everton ran 4k further than United.. With top four on the line, Everton were simply stronger, fitter, quicker, faster and wanted this more. I can accept losing but I simply cannot accept a bunch of lazy, can't be arsed players not putting effort in. Disgraceful.

This was the season's nadir and Woodward was fortunate the United supporters were housed in the opposite stand at Goodison Park. There were chants of 'Attack, attack, attack' and it wouldn't have been a surprise had they restarted 'Jose's right, the board is s***e' six months on from the intense Newcastle encounter. The lack of a football presence on the board and the players are the bigger problems than the manager, just as they were in August.
United have fallen so far their following had to resort to heckling Vincent Kompany over City's failure to win the Treble. City have won something, just as they did last season, and they might complete a unique domestic treble. The irony is the highlight of United fans' run-in might be City extending Liverpool's championship drought by another year.

 United are destined for a sixth-place finish and Europa League football. Solskjaer needs to preside over his own squad cull. Antonio Valencia and Ander Herrera, back in training but not back in the squad, are both going and Matteo Darmian and Marcos Rojo were omitted from the squad again at Everton. Plenty of those involved should not be at the club next season. Nemanja Matic, starting for the first time in three weeks, moved as though ploughing through quick sand. Fred and Phil Jones were replaced by Ashley Young and Scott McTominay at the pause, which was tantamount to rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.

 United were reduced to being ironically cheered by their own supporters for merely stringing three passes together with Everton 4-0 up and in cruise control.
And, yes, it was that bad.
Solskjaer's side were quite simply over-run and did not even show the heart or fighting spirit to escape from a joyous Goodison with any dignity on a desperate day.
There was simply nothing good about this United performance. Indeed, given Everton's superiority, they were fortunate the scoreline did not have an even more embarrassing appearance.
Paul Pogba walked around midfield while Idrissa Gueye, Morgan Schneiderlin and Gylfi Sigurdsson snapped into challenges, and it was a nightmare return to Everton for striker Romelu Lukaku.
Taunted throughout, he could not do a thing right and his afternoon simply went from bad to worse.
He was not alone. De Gea may have saved well from Richarlison early on but he was slow to react to Sigurdsson's shot and it was his punch that fell at Lucas Digne's feet to score. The Spain keeper is having an awful season and is finished at the top level. Another game, another costly high profile error.
It was five years ago to the day since a 2-0 loss here ended David Moyes' calamitous ten month tenure - and this United performance was even worse than that.
Solskjaer has inherited a mess, the early gloss from his arrival has worn off and players like Pogba and Lukaku, who were revived after Mourinho was sacked, look back to their bad old ways.
Now there is the small matter of the derby against title-chasing Manchester City at Old Trafford on Wednesday. Oh what fun that's going to be...

Match report: Everton 4 (FOUR) Man Utd 0

Marco Silva's rampant Toffees inflicted further woe on the ragged Reds as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side were brutally put to the sword at Goodison. United face an increasingly perilous plight to secure a quickly fading top four place after 90 minutes which were nothing but torture.
In-form Everton had beaten Chelsea and Arsenal in their last two league home fixtures and rose to seventh in the battle to become the league's best of the rest after exposing the plethora of problems facing Solskjaer.

Much maligned United keeper David de Gea had saved superbly from Richarlison before the Brazilian hooked in an excellent 13th-minute opener. De Gea was then beaten by Gylfi Sigurdsson's 25 yarder, Lucas Digne volleyed in a third and substitute Theo Walcott slammed in the fourth after half time.
United have lost six of their past eight games in all competitions, while a fifth successive away defeat - for the first time since 1981 - leaves them facing the prospect of Europa League football next season. Oh, happy days. But the truth is, if by some miracle we do manage to scam a place in the top four, we'd have stolen a Champions League status that we simply do not deserve.
With Sigurdsson pulling the strings in midfield and Richarlison proving a real menace to the United defence, the Reds were forced to retreat early on, thanks to a series of Everton set-plays. From one of those, the ball dropped to Idrissa Gueye, who sent the ball back in and only a brilliant reaction save from David De Gea prevented Richarlison from firing the hosts ahead.

Two minutes later, the Brazilian scored. A long throw-in from the left by Digne was flicked on and Richarlison spectacularly volleyed home into the roof of the net.

The Reds were struggling to get a foothold in the game but got a first glimpse of goal on 19 minutes when an excellent Paul Pogba ball over the top was flicked over the bar by Marcus Rashford.

 United had another chance to apply some pressure on 28 minutes after winning a corner, but Rashford’s ball in was cleared, allowing Everton to break forward. Sigurdsson collected from Gueye and led the charge over the halfway line before taking aim, unopposed, from 25 yards and firing into the bottom corner past De Gea.

A slight mix-up in the United defence – when De Gea attempted to find Dalot with a throw – led to another chance as half-time approached but the Spanish stopper recovered well to prevent a second for Richarlison.

Unfortunately, the Toffees further extended their lead on 56 minutes when De Gea’s punched clearance from a corner fell to the unmarked Digne outside the area and the Frenchman fired home low in the corner.

Minutes later, Sigurdsson almost scored directly from a corner, but De Gea stuck out a foot to clear it. The Spaniard could do nothing to stop Everton netting a fourth just after the hour-mark as the outstanding Sigurdsson slipped the ball into the path of the onrushing Walcott on the left touchline and the forward skipped towards goal before slotting home. Spineless, gutless, pathetic and f******g embarrasing.

Overall team performance: 0/10
United Faithful Man of the Match: Fucking no one they're all shit

Match preview: Everton v Man Utd

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United face another tricky test in the remaining aim to secure a top four league finish. After the disappointment of Champions League defeat to Barcelona in Wednesday, attentions now turn to sealing a return to that competition next season. However, with top four rivals Arsenal and Chelsea both still going strong in the Europa League semi finals, even fourth place might not be enough. If one of the London clubs win that competition and we finish fourth, they would take our place among the elite with United consigned to another Europa League season. Doesn't bear thinking about.
Goodison Park is always a difficult place to go, but this is not a good time to be facing an in-form Everton. Until their defeat at already relegated Fulham last time out, Marco Silva's rejuvenated Toffees had put together three successive wins, including home victories over Arsenal and Chelsea. This looks another tricky hurdle for the Reds to clear. Three points on Easter Sunday is an absolute must with the visits of title chasing Manchester City and top four chasing Chelsea to Old Trafford in the next two league fixtures.

Everton are without Andre Gomes, who has been handed a retrospective three-match ban for a challenge on Aleksandr Mitrovic in the defeat at Fulham. Tom Davies and ex-Red Morgan Schneiderlin are vying to replace him, while Yerry Mina is still sidelined through injury.
Manchester United may rotate their squad following the midweek Champions League exit, with Ander Herrera back in training after a thigh injury. Nemanja Matic and Alexis Sanchez are available but Luke Shaw is suspended so Diogo Dalot is likely to start at either right or left-back. Anthony Martial will be relishing the chance to take a bite out of the Toffees having scored five goals in seven games against the men from the blue half of Merseyside. Romelu Lukaku is set to make his first return to Goodison Park in the Red of United having missed last season's 2-0 win there.

Solskjaer said: "We know we have to be realistic here and we know we have a job to be done.
"There's no quick fix, it's not like we buy seven players and suddenly we're in the right shape, we are where we are.
"We have to take it step-by-step and of course there will be signings made in the summer.
"The players are in a good state mentally," the boss adds. "We know it's going to be a hard game at Goodison — I think other teams have shown that.
"It's great to have games to look forward to and the focus has changed straight away, of course we spoke after the game on Tuesday] but now we've got a fantastic week to look forward to."

 Everton are currently embroiled in a four way fight for seventh and the Europa Cup, along with Leicester, Wolves and Watford. The Toffees currently sit ninth, level with the other two sides in the battle to become the Premier League's "best of the rest". After a largely indifferent season in which Portuguese manager Silva has struggled to convince the doubters, securing European football would go some way to silencing his critics.

 Sunday's clash will be our 199th competitive meeting with Everton - the first of which dates back to 1892. Overall, United have won 88 of the previous encounters, drawn 44 and lost 66. The Reds beat Everton 2-1 at Old Trafford back in October thanks to goals from Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial. We were also victorious on our last trip to Goodison Park, winning 2-0 on New Year’s Day in 2018 with goals coming from Martial and Jesse Lingard.

Form guide: Everton D L W W W L Man Utd L W L L W L
Match odds: Everton 9/4 Draw 5/2 Man Utd 5/4
Referee: Paul Tierney (Wigan)

Predicted Man Utd XI: De Gea; Young, Lindelof, Smalling, Dalot; McTominay, Matic; Rashford, Pogba, Martial; Lukaku.

Perspective needed after Barcelona loss

Man Utd's Champions League run came to a painful end at the hands of Ernesto Valverde's Barcelona in the quarter finals. The reaction to the defeat may have been blown out of all proportion as usual, but at times like this, a little perspective is needed.

Firstly, let's look at the opponents. This is a side that hadn't lost at home in Europe since 2013, with a star studded line up on course for a second consecutive La Liga title and the favourites to go all the way to win the cup with big ears for a fifth time. A side admittedly some way short of their Pep Guardiola 2009 - 2011 peak, but a team nonetheless always there or thereabouts in Europe and equipped with all the tools to do so again this time around.
 A side blessed with a plethora of talent from goalkeeper Marc - Andre ter Stegen, the planet's finest left back in Jordi Alba, string pulling creators in chief Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic, not to mention Luis Suarez and some Argentinian bloke by the name of Lionel Messi. I don't know of anyone who actually thought United would ever get past them, even after the heroics of Paris in the last 16. It was always going to be a huge, gargantuan ask and a tie that the Reds took on more in hope than expection. Of course there was belief (you have to, don't you?) but even the most ardent Red would admit they never really thought we could do it.
On the face of it, United never should have made it as far as the quarter finals, and there's absolutely no shame at all in going out to a team with the calibre and class of Barcelona. The 4-0 aggregate result, in truth, reflects the gap between the two sides at present at this moment in time. There was a clear gulf in class. The ability, talent, mentality and quality of the two squads simply do not compare. A compelling case can be made that United have overachieved in the competition simply by making it to the quarter finals. Above everything that emerged last night, there was one stat that proved the most damning. In 2011 United were beaten 2-1 by Basel to get knocked out at the group stage. Of the starting XI that night EIGHT years ago, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Ashley Young all played in that tie. A reminder, it was eight years ago. As United ran out at the Nou Camp last night, those same three players - Smalling, Jones and Young - lined up in defence.
 Which other so called top club would have kept the same not-good-enough players for so long? Its a tale that tells you everything you need to know about recruitment and strategy.

Many thought we'd never even get out of a difficult group section containing Juventus and Valencia, and there were even more doubters when United - then in the final throes of the Jose Mourinho era - were paired with PSG. Everyone was laughing but having already defied the odds once, it always seemed too big an ask for United to repeat that feat this time. But there have been great memories to take away from our Champions League journey - the late climb-off-the-canvas victory to complete the unlikeliest of victories in Turin, and of course the miracle to end all miracles at the Parc des Princes. Truly a "where were you" moment. Whereas last year's loss to Sevilla in the first knockout round ended only in ugly ignominy, this time we bow out with heads very much held high.

David de Gea finished as a top level keeper

There's no denying just what a brilliant keeper David de Gea has been for Manchester United, at times winning games almost on his own with his gravity-defying agility. He has already left a mark on our club that needs no embellishment. Shot stopper supreme, last line of defence extraordinaire, a master of his trade and the one player at the club to be regarded as a genuine world class talent.
United's Player of the Season for four out of the last five years, including the first man to ever win the award three times in a row, De Gea has thrown down the goalkeeping gauntlet and underlined his status as the best in the business.

This season, though, it has become increasingly apparent that, at 28, De Gea's prime years are well behind him. This may prove controversial, but I believe De Gea is finished at the top level. How else to explain a slump in form that is no longer merely a blip, but a full blown crisis. His howler for Barcelona's second goal - when Lionel Messi's daisy cutter should have been a routine save but squirmed under him - was mounting evidence of a season too far for the keeper. He is useless at the minute and has become a liability. His blunder in the Nou Camp was the latest in a long line of howlers, gaffes and mistakes that are costing us not only games, points and goals week in week out but also denting his own reputation. His ambigious contract situation surely hasn't helped his cause or ours, but if that's the reason for his error-strewn game, then that shows a weak mentality. He's certainly not alone there. Then there's the World Cup shenanigans when he was unfairly singled out as a scapegoat for Spain's earlier than expected exit after he let in six of the seven shots he faced. All this and you have De Gea's 2019 raison d'etre.
Of course, even the very best make mistakes and no one is infallible. But the charge sheet for De Gea is stacking up. At fault for West Ham's equaliser on Saturday, he can also be held accountable for Wolves winner in the league, Granit Xhaka's goal for Arsenal at the Emirates, the own goal that settled the first leg of the Barcelona quarter final, and Abdoulaye Doucoure's strike for Watford at Old Trafford. Six games, six big errors, and that's just in the last month alone. There are several others that I can think of this season alone. As good as he has been, he should be not be allowed to escape criticism. To put into perspective, Ashley Young gets a rough ride every week - justifiably so - but De Gea has been just as poor as him. The malaise has become a maelstrom.

Where De Gea could once be relied upon to bail United out every week, now there's only a lack of confidence, poor distribution and a failure to command his defence. His stock has fallen so far that when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer begins his summer overhaul, De Gea is no longer irreplacable. Atletico Madrid's Jan Oblak and Milan's highly rated young keeper Gianluga Donnarumma, to name but two, would be more than adequate to fill the gloves.

De Gea thanks for the memories but it's time to say goodbye.

Match report: Barcelona 3-0 Man Utd (Agg: 4-0)

A Lionel-Messi inspired Barcelona ended Man Utd's Champions League run at the quarter-final stage as they finished the job in style at the Nou Camp.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side have done well to get as far as the last eight, but after the miracle of Paris in the last round, this tie, in truth, proved a step too far for the Reds.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, United started brightly but were then undone by Messi's brilliance and the latest in an increasingly long list of howlers from David de Gea.

 Messi put the hosts ahead with a fine curling effort from 20 yards in the 16th minute and four minutes later De Gea let a weaker shot from the edge of the area squirm under his body for the Argentine's second.
Philippe Coutinho added a third for Barca in the 61st minute, curling a stunning effort into the top corner from distance.
United hit the bar inside the first 40 seconds through Marcus Rashford but were dominated after going behind.
Alexis Sanchez's diving header, which was spectacularly saved by Barca goalkeeper Marc Andre ter Stegen in the 90th minute, was as close as the visitors came in the second half.

It was a sobering night for United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the ground where he scored his most famous goal, the stoppage-time winner in the 1999 Champions League final.
Barca now meet either Liverpool or Porto in the semi-final, with the Reds taking a 2-0 lead into Wednesday's second leg.

 United were always facing a difficult task as they attempted to overturn a first-leg deficit for the second round in a row.

Just like in the last 16, when we stunned Paris St-Germain at the Parc de Princes, United started the game fast, looked dangerous on the counter-attack and had opportunities - a poor touch from Scott McTominay in the area saw a chance wasted shortly after Rashford's first-minute effort.
That start raised hope of an improbable comeback but Barcelona soon took charge and were awarded a penalty in the 11th minute for Fred's clumsy challenge on Ivan Rakitic in the area only for the decision to overturned after the referee consulted VAR.
United survived that scare but their hopes were effectively ended when they allowed Messi to score twice in four first-half minutes.


The Argentine dazzled for his first goal with a nutmeg of United midfielder Fred and a perfect finish into the bottom corner, but Ashley Young gave the ball away in the left-back position and the visitors' defence backed off rather than attempt to stop the shot.
Then De Gea, so often United's star player, made a huge mistake by allowing Messi's tame shot from 20 yards to slip under his body and in.
Unlike in the first leg, Barcelona looked as though they could could cut their opponents open at will.
Messi was at the centre of that attacking threat with Jordi Alba also marauding forward from left-back and the Barcelona midfield outplaying their United counterparts, both in terms of their control of the ball and pressing to win it back.
No United player made any real impact on a match that proved how great a rebuild is required under Solskjaer if we are to compete with the European elite.

  Overall team performance: 5/10
United Faithful Man of the Match: Fred