Pogba was rumoured to have been celebrating alongside overjoyed teammates as news of Jose Mourinho sacking was broken to them, but now all the pressure lies on the players to start performing. Manchester United’s unimpressive start to the season sees them in sixth position in the English Premier League table, out of the Carabao Cup and with a slim chance in the Champions League, which will clearly need to be improved upon should the players want contentment from the fans and board. While innumerable uncertainties surround Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s appointment as interim manager, one thing is for sure, the free-flowing attacking football which has been missing will return instantly. Fans and players alike have been waiting eagerly for this occur, but now the players have no excuses. The remaining five months of the season will definitely prove important as a testing phase for various players. In the coming games, fans and the future inheritor of this squad will begin to realise which players are, and which players aren’t fit to wear the badge. Inconsistency may have been accepted in a team which wasn’t set, but once Solskjaer arrives, players such as Pogba, Romelo Lukaku and others will need to showcase their brilliance on a regular basis — week in, week out. This may prove a struggle for some, the likes of Marouane Fellaini, Nemanja Matic, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, who will find themselves on the chopping board should they perform poorly for an extended run of games. In essence, the talents who are able to hold their own during this transitional period will deserve, and keep, their place in the team, while the ones who don’t will have to walk the plank and head for the exits at Old Trafford. So, though some may not realise it currently, the unhappy marriage of polar opposites ending, and a new dawn beginning could cause some players stress and difficulty finding their way into the team, as well as remaining at the club.
Published in Daily Times, December 22nd 2018.