Cardiff City vs. Man U
Venue: Cardiff City Stadium
Kick off: 6:30PM
Manchester United’s post-Jose Mourinho era begins in South Wales this evening when they take on relegation-threatened Cardiff City in the day’s late Premier League kickoff.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will begin his interim spell as Red Devils manager against the club he suffered relegation with during his only previous managerial stint in the English leagues.
Jose Mourinho’s sacking sent shockwaves around world football without actually being that shocking; a 3-1 defeat away to Liverpool proving to be the final straw as the gulf in class between the two sides was embarrassingly laid bare at the home of United’s most bitter rivals.
The loss left United 19 points off the leaders – they are closer to bottom-of-the-table Fulham – and perhaps more importantly 11 points adrift of the Champions League places, a gap only one point smaller than the one separating them from today’s relegation-threatened hosts.
There are plenty of other damning statistics which could be used to showcase how far United’s star has fallen; during Mourinho’s reign they won 176 points – fewer than Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Liverpool over the same period – while their tally of 26 points after 17 games of this top-flight season is their lowest since 1990-91.
At the same stage of last season United were 12 points better off, but perhaps the most startling difference between this term and 2017-18 comes in the goals conceded column, where the Red Devils have already let in more this season (29) than they did throughout the whole of the previous campaign (28).
Indeed, only Fulham – who are yet to keep a single clean sheet this season – have prevented the opposition from scoring on fewer occasions than United, which is a particularly woeful record considering they boast a goalkeeper widely regarded as the best in the world.
There are plenty of problems for Solskjaer to address, then – much like when Guus Hiddink steadied Chelsea’s ship after Mourinho’s 2015 sacking – but there is a vast difference in managerial experience between Solskjaer and Hiddink.
It is a huge job to hand someone whose only previous spells as manager have come at Molde and Cardiff, although first and foremost he should help to get the fans – who still chant his name from his playing days – back onside.
Solskjaer is also a figure who knows the club’s values well having won 11 trophies in 11 years as a player and then gone on to be the reserve team coach at United.
As much as the board and fans will be hoping that Solskjaer’s appointment galvanises the team, it may actually be that Mourinho’s exit has an even greater effect on a group of incredibly talented players that looked shorn of confidence under the previous boss.
A visit to Cardiff is not as easy a start as it might appear at first glance, though, particularly given their home form and the fact that United have picked up only one point from four away games since their memorable win at Juventus last month.
Cardiff possible XI: Etheridge, Ecuele Manga, Morrison, Bamba, Peltier, Hoilett, Camarasa, Gunnarsson, Arter, Murphy, Reid.
Man Utd possible XI: De Gea, Valencia, Bailly, Lindelof, Shaw, Fred, Matic, Pogba, Lingard, Rashford, Martial.