Voice of London

He may become the next Mourinho -but perhaps not in the way he wanted to

Ed Woodward has recently come out to silence Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s critics and stated that he backs him up. Still however, the Norwegian’s start to the Premier League this season has been abysmal, and even though Woodward has shown his support towards him, it’s easy to remember that he is a man who last season did the same for Mourinho -only to then replace him with Solskjaer.

United’s next game is just hours away, and they are facing an unstoppable Liverpool side who have yet to  show any signs of slowing down, and alongside the possible absences of David De Gea and Paul Pogba, the already-struggling Red Devils might fall even further down the league table.

The pressure for Ole was already there to begin with. Man United against Liverpool is one of the biggest games of the Premier League, but especially now with how United are doing it might be time to go hard or go home: Jose Mourinho didn’t go hard and he got sacked after losing to Liverpool last season.

Has Ole nothing to be afraid of or is history going to repeat itself? A statistical analysis of the two coaches’ start during the two seasons. Did one deliver better than the other or did both get plagued by terrible results?

                                                                                                         For reference, here is Mourinho’s record before getting sacked.

Full Fixture Analysis

                   Ole’s  Results                                                                                                 Mourinho’s  Results                                                                                                                                            

Lightning -and disappointing results- strike twice.

With Ole’s and United’s fate hanging in the balance – and an unbeatable Liverpool on the opposite side- the upcoming game will certainly be a thrilling one. Live on Sky Sports at 16:30.

Words and graphs by: Alex Papagiannis

Photo by: Alex Motoc on Unsplash