Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes in the traditions of Manchester United.
But Ole Gunnar Solskjaer probably needs to reinvent the traditions of Manchester United if the club is to progress this season.
Solskjaer said the season would be full of ups and downs. After the opening weekend win against Chelsea, United have been experiencing the downs – the penalty miss against Wolves, the penalty miss against Crystal Palace, the penalty takers confusion and then the defeat at home to Palace.
This is exactly what Solskjaer said would happen but that prescience doesn’t necessarily mean he is the progressive visionary Manchester United need.
Solskjaer is a problem Manchester United will have to solve at some point, but he is only one of many they have to fix in a world which has been turned upside down since the days Solskjaer harks back to.
When they equalised late on Saturday, those who had grown up in the Ferguson era expected only one result. But there is a new era now and there was a different result.
Something might have happened in 1999 that Solskjaer can fall back on right now but the defeat to Palace illustrated some of the problems at the club.
On The Football Spin, Paddy McKenna and Dion Fanning discuss Manchester United’s prospects with Reuben Pinder and wonder how they get out of the season they’ve been having every year since Alex Ferguson retired.
Palace, meanwhile, look like being predictably unpredictable and there’s a chance to look back on the other important weekend results, including Liverpool’s defeat of Arsenal and why David Luiz made things easy for a player who looks like he won’t need any assistance this year.
There’s also discussion of Ben Stokes and why video assistance doesn’t deliver the same problems in cricket as well as an update on the latest Sunday Times stories on the FAI.
It’s all part of The Football Spin.
