Some Manchester United fans have mocked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for his comments about the club trying to win the UEFA Europa League.
United’s sixth-placed finish in the Premier League last season meant that they will play in the Europa League the current campaign.
And they have started well, being drawn into a group that has Partizan Belgrade, Astana and AZ Alkmaar. So far in the campaign, the Red Devils are unbeaten and are yet to concede a goal. United have beaten Astana and Partizan but were held to a goalless draw by AZ away from home.
Solskjaer has recently, as relayed by Utd Report on Twitter, talked about the club’s ambitions to win the competition, but United fans have mocked the Norwegian about it.
We barely beat Astana and Partizan, have drawn with AZ and he says we’ve started very well
— Mancunian Henry (@CR7STIANOOO) November 6, 2019
We won it because we had a competent manager.
— ?? (@UtdHenry) November 6, 2019
Ole is thinking about winning the Europa League
— Robin Hood Fc (@OkoSumah) November 6, 2019
We won it because we had the special one, now we have the worse one
— MarcNoble (@MarcKnowsIt) November 6, 2019
The Red Devils won their first Europa League crown in the 2016-17 campaign under the tutelage of Jose Mourinho, who had also won the League Cup in the same season with United.
The club faced Ajax in the final of the competition and managed to beat them 2-0, thanks to goals from Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The current Europa League campaign is United’s third since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. They played in the competition under Louis van Gaal in the 2015-16 season when they got knocked out of the Champions League and finished third in their group.
Despite United’s unbeaten run this season, some fans aren’t happy with how the side has played in the first three games.
try out scoring from open play?
— Tejas (@t_bopes) November 6, 2019
what..like playing decent football….
— Bryan Regan (@bregan66) November 6, 2019
United’s next game in the Europa League sees them face Partizan at Old Trafford on Thursday. The Red Devils can seal qualification into the knockout rounds with a win against the visitors from Serbia.
What do we think?
It is unfair to criticise Solskjaer about these comments. There is no harm in showing ambition, even though there are teams in the competition who might have a much higher chance of winning the Europa League than United.
But the way United have started shows that they have the foundation to rely on a very sound defence. They need investment in the attack, considering they have scored only twice in three games. If they spend money in January, they can sort out their attacking issues too.