Not for the first time this season, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is facing pressing questions over his stewardship of Manchester United. The Reds are still waiting for their first home win over the season after Sunday’s defeat to Arsenal, with the Norwegian in the firing line for some of his tactical decisions.
Fresh from an impressive Champions League win over RB Leipzig, Manchester United were desperately lacking in intensity. Solskjaer carried over the midfield diamond that worked to great effect against RB Leipzig, but this time the formation failed to get the best out of the players on the pitch.
Unable to counter-attack and unable to pass through Arsenal’s high press, Manchester United found themselves in tactical no man’s land. This has prompted questions over Solskjaer’s vision for his team. What sort of side does he want his team to be? Even after two years in the job, the answer remains unclear.
Contrast this lack of ideological clear-sightedness to the vision of Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United. The Argentine has forged the Whites into one of the most dynamic sides in all of English football over the last two seasons, with the Elland Road outfit currently sitting comfortably in 12th place in the Premier League table - three places above Manchester United.
Watch Leeds United and it becomes clear very quickly that everyone on the pitch knows what their role is in the team. This has given Bielsa a strong framework to build around and should protect the Elland Road outfit from the sort of wild swings in form and general volatility that has afflicted Solskjaer’s side. They don’t have that framework.
In some aspects, there are similarities between the way Bielsa sets up his team and what Solskjaer has attempted over the early part of the 2020/21 season. The Norwegian has asked Fred to drop into a back three to pick up the ball and drive it forward. This is what Kalvin Phillips does for Leeds in a ploy that allows the wing-backs to push higher up the pitch.
The way Bielsa likes an unorthodox forward to lead the line is similar to how Solskjaer views his frontline, with Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood all capable of fluid, interchangeable movement. This is where the greatest success of Solskjaer’s tactical thinking over the last two years.
On a fundamental level, though, Solskjaer is lacking the cultural bedrock Bielsa has. Leeds United are all about high pressing and high intensity. Bielsa’s side are among the most energetic in the Premier League. Manchester United are not, with a lack of fitness also seemingly an issue for Solskjaer’s men. See how Bruno Fernandes was so weary towards the end of the loss to Arsenal.
Bielsa’s players fight for him, while there are questions over just how committed the current group at Old Trafford are to Solskjaer. There have been reports of dressing room doubts over the Norwegian’s ability to take Manchester United where they want to go. There are no such doubts within the Elland Road dressing room right now.
Leeds United and Manchester United have spent recent years, decades even, aiming for different things. Now, though, the two rivals are in the same league again and on the basis of how the first few weeks of the season have gone, they might be aiming for the same things. They are in the same area of the table.
Solskjaer isn’t the tactical amateur he is widely made out to be, but the contrast with Bielsa and what he has done at Leeds United isn’t kind to the Norwegian. One team is sure of what it is and what it wants to be, the other isn’t and that is manifesting itself in the performances being produced on the pitch.
