TINKER players, Solskjaer, why?
With Manchester United in with a shout of seriously challenging for the Premier League title after an eight-year drought, now is not the time to take it easy.
Victory at home to bottom of the pile Sheffield United would have taken Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s man back to the summit – and nine points clear of champs Liverpool.
Instead, six changes were made from the FA Cup victory over the Reds – six unnecessary and damaging changes.
Edinson Cavani, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw, Donny Van De Beek and Scott McTominay all left on the bench – along with cup keeper Dean Henderson – with rest and recovery in mind.
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There was a feeling that Ole knew this result was in the bag, whatever team he put out. How wrong he was.
By the end of the game, Cavani, Shaw and Van De Beek were all thrown on to try and salvage something, but in the end, embarrassingly, it was far too late.
The outcome? Momentum lost. That winning feeling over. And their lead at the top gone. 13 games without defeat in all competitions in tatters, in the most humiliating of ways.
Everyone understands the need to look after players in the current climate, with games coming thick and fast over the winter period and into the spring.
But when the stakes are this high, a manager of Solskjaer’s standing and current pressure to deliver trophies cannot be drastically changing starting XI’s when things are looking as rosy as they have been in recent weeks.
Of course, had United strolled to victory over the Blades – who had not tasted three points at Old Trafford for 48 years before this one – then all would be forgotten.
But Kean Bryan tossed that particular script out of the window grabbing the first half goal from a set piece that stopped United in their tracks.
A first for leading a league game at half time this campaign for Sheffield United, as well as the giant landmark of a first win at Old Trafford for 48 years.
For United, it was the third game on the bounce in all competitions that they had conceded the first goal.
The fact Bryan is a former Manchester City academy graduate – his goal keeping his old pals at the Etihad top – will sting even more for United and Ole.
The head of skipper Harry Maguire to level the scores with his first ever goal at Old Trafford against his hometown club looked to have saved Ole’s blushes, slightly.
But to concede again through Oliver Burke thanks to an untimely deflection by Axel Tuanzebe – somehow preferred over the experienced Lindelof – is criminal.
And considering United have been relying on wins by one-goal margins since their 6-2 win over Leeds on December 20th, to bench a player like Cavani who has taken to the physicality of the Prem like a duck to water, beggar’s belief.
God knows what the score may have been had Ole decided to rest Bruno Fernandes for a second game running.
After coming off the bench to win United an FA Cup fifth round spot, Bruno Fernandes said: “Tired? At 26-years-old I can't be tired. If I'm tired now, when I arrive at 30 or 32 I will not play. I will play one game in five so, no, I'm not tired.”
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The same should go for the majority of that United squad, who should be more than capable of playing two games in the space of a few days.
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And not just any games. High pressure games. Adrenaline-pumping games. Games with the ultimate prize at the end of them should they win them. Trophies.
If Ole has any ambition to lift one during his time in the Old Trafford hot seat, his tinkering tendencies need to be reviewed and revisited. Pronto.