Former midfielder Owen Hargreaves has hailed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's bravery after his decision to switch to a back-three helped Manchester United register a morale-boosting 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening.
Goals either side of the half time interval from Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani put United in control before Marcus Rashford sealed a much-needed victory late on, easing the pressure on under-fire boss Solskjaer.
After last weekend's 5-0 hammering at the hands of Liverpool, Solskjaer arrived in north London knowing that he had to guide his players to a positive result or face incredible pressure on his job.
Solskjaer ditched United's usual approach of lining up in a 4-2-3-1, instead opting to choose a 3-5-2 system, with the returning Raphael Varane joining Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire in lining up in the back-three.
It was a decision that paid off for United — with the likes of Ronaldo and Cavani being allowed to do damage at the other end of the pitch.
Hargreaves told the Premier League's website : "Credit to Ole and his players; He was brave and changed the tactics to a back-three with wing-backs.
"They had better balance, better control of the game and had two world class players at the top of the pitch in Ronaldo and Cavani, so they turned it around. It was a great performance. The attacking players decided it — [Bruno] Fernandes, Cavani and Ronaldo.
"For Ole, defensively they have been a mess, all season. A clean sheet will be big for them."
A clean sheet doubled United's tally for the season, highlighting just how rare they have been for them this season, with Wolves being the only other side fail to score against them.
Considering United have Atalanta and Manchester City to come in the next week, a clean sheet will have done the players' confidence the world have good ahead of two huge fixtures.
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