Atalanta will test Ole’s turnaround: Neil Humphreys
Champions League clash can show whether Spurs win was a smokescreen
GROUP F
ATALANTA v MANCHESTER UNITED
(Tomorrow, 4am, Singtel TV Ch 110 & StarHub TV Ch 214)
Sorry, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but Atalanta represent the real test now. Yes, Tottenham Hotspur were expected to take on testing duties, but proved to be hilariously flaccid in their 3-0 defeat last Saturday.
The Champions League tomorrow morning (Singapore time) is about to throw the latest lifeline for the only manager to be permanently one match from salvation or the sack.
Solskjaer knows this. He bought into this. He's a devoted member of the Sir Alex Ferguson heritage society, protector of the Manchester United way and keeper of a dying flame.
The United way has always been one of boom and bust, from game to game, minute to minute even, a unique feature of managing the world's most famous sports franchise and accentuated by Solskjaer's endearing lack of consistency.
False dawns are the true United way and Spurs were utterly dreadful. Nuno Espirito Santo lost his job yesterday as a consequence - after just 17 games in charge. You can't take Spurs seriously.
So here we are again. Another 90 minutes to save the Norwegian's skin. Another chance to mock, ridicule and lob rancid tomatoes towards the genial figure forever locked in the stocks of public opinion, grinning like a relief teacher getting splattered by his students.
And what progress, if any, has been made after knocking over Nuno's skittles? What lessons can be learned by a stodgy outfit that has mastered the cycle of misplaced optimism?
Win. Lose. Crisis. Lose. Win. Redemption. Repeat the cycle for three years, throw in references to the "boss", the one scowling in the stands, the real boss, reiterate links to an ever-vanishing past and hope Cristiano Ronaldo does something magical.
And he did. To further muddy the waters, Ronaldo opened his third eye against Tottenham, painted a few pretty pictures in his head and then executed every one of them - the take-off, flight, volley and placement, before heading off on the latest Solskjaer salvation exercise.
Suddenly, ridiculously, United's manager has hit upon another ingenious scheme to get his latest runaway train back on track. Two strikers with the combined age of 70 are the way forward now, apparently.
Ex-Liverpool defender Alan Hansen might find himself vindicated, over a quarter of a century after his original comment. United will finally win nothing with kids.
Forget the £73 million (S$134.5m) spent on one of the most promising attackers in Europe and Solskjaer's original promise to promote United's very own from the academy, Jadon Sancho can keep England forwards Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood company on the bench.
Against Tottenham, a 34-year-old Uruguayan demonstrated a tenacious work rate that his teammates have lacked this season (and Ronaldo has wilfully avoided since about 2015).
Ordinarily, such an incongruous development might be construed as an indictment of a club's training methods or a manager's motivational shortcomings. But Solskjaer's United must be viewed through a Lewis Carroll-like prism of mind-bending realities.
In this reality, he's hit upon a new, winning formula. A 3-4-1-2 formation bolsters the defence and allows the ever-running Cavani to compensate for the never-running Ronaldo.
But the first clean sheet since August owed more to the return of Raphael Varane, whose calming influence against Spurs cannot be overstated. Playing in the middle, he pulled the raggedy Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof together.
A back three is a rarity at United. But it may be a necessity in the coming weeks to support Fred and Scott McTominay and deal with the one who occasionally scores great volleys before returning to his sloth-like devotion to energy conservation.
And still, no one is going to get carried away, surely, in this Groundhog Day pantomime of Solskjaer's reign. To paraphrase Roy Keane paraphrasing Ferguson: Lads, it was Tottenham.
A Champions League night in Bergamo should offer more challenging conditions than Spurs did, but then, so would a cool breeze off Bedok jetty.
And does it even matter for Solskjaer at this point? Win and he's back at the wheel. Lose and he's out the door. We've all seen this soap opera, many times, as the drifting Red Devils continue to go round in circles.
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