Solskjaer given reprieve to right the ship at United

LONDON • Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been given a chance to turn things around at the club and sort out the aftermath of Sunday's 5-0 Premier League hammering at home by Liverpool.

Despite speculation that he was set to be replaced after nearly three years in the position, the Norwegian remains in his post and multiple sources have told Reuters that he will be in charge for Saturday's game against Tottenham.

United's players and staff returned to their Carrington training ground yesterday as Solskjaer begins the task of dealing with the shocking performance against Liverpool and rallying the troops for the trip to north London.

After Spurs, United travel to Italy to face Serie A side Atalanta in the Champions League next Tuesday.

Those two games are followed by a home clash with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, when Solskjaer can ill-afford a repeat of the Liverpool debacle.

Sources close to the club said that United did not want to make a knee-jerk decision and are now focused on fixing the problems with the team's performances and results.

According to football insider Fabrizio Romano, the board, with the backing of former manager Alex Ferguson, will lend its support at least until after the Spurs game.

That loyalty came despite the intense pressure placed on Solskjaer, 48, after Sunday's humiliation.

British media have reported former Juventus and Chelsea boss Antonio Conte is interested in the job amid claims of dressing room discontent.

Former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane is another name that has been bandied about.

Solskjaer will know that any continuation of poor results - the Red Devils have secured just one point from their past four league games - and performances like Sunday's will make his position untenable, even with his status as a club great.

Despite finishing second to City last season, and bringing in French World Cup-winning defender Raphael Varane, England winger Jadon Sancho and five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer to augment the team, United look further from the top than ever.

But since Solskjaer took over from Jose Mourinho in December 2018, initially on a temporary basis, the club have been working to make a long-term shift to recapture the "culture" of the Ferguson years.

Gradual improvements earned the former United striker a contract extension in July, meaning his deal runs until 2024 with an option for another year.

Having made that commitment, the board is reportedly unwilling to jettison its plans on the basis of a sudden, albeit dramatic, slump in form.

Solskjaer's first priority now will surely be to tighten up a defence that was shambolic against Liverpool and in the 4-2 loss at Leicester a week earlier, and lift the morale of the dressing room hurting from the mauling at the hands of their archrivals.

The return of Varane from injury would be a major help in that regard but a change of shape and system, returning to the more compact, counter-attack focused approach from earlier in his reign, would also make sense.

REUTERS