You got to wonder just how much rope Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer really has left at Old Trafford. With yesterday’s utterly dismal draw against newly promoted Aston Villa yesterday, the team now sits ninth in the table, and off to their worst beginning since 1988-89, when they finished 11th.
While the Norwegian’s seat may or may not be hot, it’s worth bringing up as Arsenal have now sacked Unai Emery for much lesser crimes. The Gunners are one spot ahead of United in the table, and Emery had a 20% better win rate in the Premier League than OGS does now.
What’s the problem? Lack of quality, says goalkeeper David de Gea. Why is there lack of quality? Because Executive Vice President Ed Woodward is utterly clueless in this component of his job. He doesn’t often speak publicly, about his disastrous transfer decisions, but he did give some quotes over the weekend.
Warning, this will just anger you if you’re a United supporter.
“It’s hard enough to get three players done in a transfer window,” Woodward said. “To get six or seven done is extremely difficult if you are getting proper talent. If you choose to churn every player because they are not good enough and you’re not extending contracts, you are putting yourself at risk of execution. Sometimes you have to take a broader view.”
Woodward wasn’t done with the meaningless corporatespeak pablum and financial report platitudes, adding:
“It’s a multi-year squad evolution analysis.”
Whether Solskjaer stays or goes doesn’t really matter as long as Woodward, the real problem, is still around. That all said, let’s take a look at who may start for the Red Devils Wednesday night when they take on Solskjaer’s predecessor Jose Mourinho and Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester United Starting XI Prediction vs Tottenham Hotspur
Rashford Martial James
Williams Fred McTominay
Tuanzebe Lindelof Maguire Wan-Bissaka
De Gea
Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur FYIs
Team News for both sides: go to this link
Starting XI Predictions: Tottenham Hotspur Manchester United
Kickoff: 7:30 BST, Dec. 3, Old Trafford
Google Result Probability: Manchester United win 34%, Draw 29%, Sheffield United win 37%
Form Guide: Tottenham- WWDDL Manchester United- DDWLW
Series history: 91 Manchester United wins 48 Draws 52 Tottenham Hotspur wins
Odds via Betfair Exchange: Manchester United win 15/8, Draw 5/2, Aston Villa 13/8
Prediction: Manchester United 2, Tottenham 2
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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