In the biggest game of the season, the Norweigan got it all wrong, and cost his team three massive points in the process.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had the chance to make a big statement on New Year’s Day.
Manchester United had won their last two matches, and were set to face struggling Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Due to other results going their way, the Red Devils knew that a win would put them only two points behind Chelsea in the race for fourth place in the Premier League standings.
The United fanbase had grown increasingly impatient with the Norwegian in recent weeks, but Solskjaer knew a massive victory over their bitter rivals would go a long way in restoring the faith.
However, he would only end up costing the Red Devils the result, getting his starting lineup completely wrong on the night.
Turning to the old guard
The biggest issue with the team named by Solskjaer came at left-back, as he decided to opt for Luke Shaw. That would prove to be a massive mistake, with the manager only having himself to blame afterwards.
Going into the contest, everyone had thought they knew who was going to play at left-back. 19-year-old Brandon Williams had been immense last time out versus Burnley, and was even named Man Of The Match due to his strong showing. Lighting up social media, fans were excited to see what the youngster could do against the Gunners.
They were left disappointed when the team sheets were announced, unfortunately, with Shaw getting the start instead.
It was an especially odd decision from Solskjaer considering Shaw was not even in good form going into the game. He had already missed over ten games this season due to a muscle injury, and United were doing just fine in his absence. When the Englishman eventually returned to the team, he was more of a hindrance than anything.
Coming back to bite him
All that considered, it was no surprise to see Shaw struggle out on the pitch when the match eventually kicked off. Matched up against Nicolas Pepe, the United left back was chasing shadows all afternoon.
He was at fault for the opening goal of the contest. Sead Kolasinac drilled a low cross into the area, which eventually made its way to Pepe at the back post, who was able to finish off the move with relative ease. However, the only reason why it the goal was so simple was because the winger was in acres of space due to Shaw’s woeful defending.
The United defender, oddly enough, chose to run towards his own goal instead of sticking close to his marker. This was a result of ball watching, as Shaw was trying to predict where it would go instead of just worrying about his assignment. He ended up in no man’s land, unable to do anything to prevent the ball from hitting the back of the net.
It was a similar story for the second goal as well. Moments before the halftime break, Arsenal launched an aimless long ball forward. It flew towards Shaw, who had plenty of time to adequately deal with the situation. That was not what happened, as the left back made a mess of things, clearing the ball out for a corner that was soon slammed home by Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
Those two miscues showed how bad Shaw was defensively, and he wasn’t much better on the other side of the ball. He seemingly refused to fly forward on the wing and pressure the Arsenal backline.
Instead, he would just take a touch before playing an easy sideways pass, taking the responsibility away from himself. That made things much harder for his teammates, as the Gunners knew they didn’t have to worry about marking Shaw, as he wasn’t going to do anything anyway.
The memes started rolling in at full time, with social media quick to make fun of the player after his dreadful performance. Even those giving a serious analysis of the match could not avoid taking shots at Shaw either, as he was that bad.
He deserves some of the blame, of course, but most of it still falls on the shoulders of coach Solskjaer. It’s clear Shaw isn’t good enough, so showings like this is what we’ve come to expect. The onus is now on the manager to stop picking him in the starting lineup, and playing the right people instead.
Solskjaer needs to learn from this loss, and make sure he doesn’t make a mistake like this again. The United fanbase are really starting to turn on him, and if things don’t change, it’ll only be a matter of time until supporters completely give up on him.
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