Manchester United’s owners have been accused of having “no ambition” for sticking with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager.
The pressure on the United boss continues to build after another poor performance in their derby day defeat to Manchester City.
Just a fortnight on from their 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Liverpool, the loss emphasised how far off United find themselves from the Premier League’s top sides, despite a summer of bringing in big-name signings in order to try and close the gap.
Many expected Solskjaer to be sacked following the Liverpool defeat, but two weeks on, there looks to be no suggestion of a change being made at Old Trafford.
And former Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor believes Solskjaer’s reaction following Saturday’s derby defeat shows he knows his position remains safe, despite the constant questions.
“You look at Norwich sacking their manager after a win, Spurs with Nuno Santo were three or four points off the top four and they sack a manager,” Agbonlahor told talkSPORT.
“Manchester United keeping hold of Solskjaer shows that the owners have got no ambition, none at all.
“It’s like he knows he’s safe because after the game he was shaking the referee’s hand, shaking everyone’s hands. I’m thinking ‘mate, you’ve just lost embarrassingly in the derby, you should be running off the pitch in shame as the manager’.
“He’s shaking everyone’s hand like ‘it’s okay, I’m not going to get the sack, the board have told me’. It’s embarrassing, honestly.”
Agbonlahor was also damning in his assessment of United’s performance against City, claiming the game no longer represents a derby given how easy City found things at Old Trafford.
“I played in so many derbies, and I’m kicking people, I’m booting people, I’m making tackles, I’m doing something.
“Manchester United players in the second half were like ‘alright, we’ll take the 2-0’ and not even trying to press the ball.
“Even if you go man-for-man and just try and get the ball back, to try and get back in the game.
“It’s a derby game, your fans are going to want the win, I don’t care if it’s Manchester City and they’re a great team. It was like ‘okay, we’ll take the 2-0 and let’s not lose any more’.
“Manchester City must have been in the changing room after the game thinking ‘wow, that was easy, how many touches did you have?’
“Manchester United v Man City is not a derby any more for me because the Man United players didn’t show that was a derby game. No fight at all.”
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