LONDON: Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is in a spot of bother following the team’s humiliating 2-0 defeat to Burnley on Wednesday.
Solskjaer has now lost more Premier League games than he has won since being handed the job on a permanent basis in March.
Former United defender Rio Ferdinand, a Premier League and Champions League winner with the club, called the club’s top brass to take action to stop the rot.
“Fans are walking out after 84 minutes. It’s an embarrassment. People at the top need to look and see this and make changes,” Ferdinand told BT Sport. “The downward spiral in this short space of time, it’s only seven years, has been remarkable.”
Should Solskjaer be the fall guy for yet another disappointing season, he would be the fourth manager to come and go since Ferguson retired in 2013.
£1 billion spent on transfers since 2013
United have spent close to £1 billion ($1.3 billion) on transfers in the past seven years and still have the highest wage bill in the Premier League.
Yet they find themselves 30 points adrift of league leaders Liverpool, who also have two games in hand, and just 11 above the relegation zone.
“If you don’t lose your job for essentially overseeing that investment, that wage bill, and putting that team out on the pitch then I have to say something is really wrong,” former United captain Gary Neville said of club’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.
Solskjaer needs some luck and quick recovery to some of his top players.
Top-scorer Marcus Rashford is expected to miss the next couple of months after being rushed back into action for a FA Cup third-round replay against Wolves last week only to suffer a serious back injury.
Long-term injuries to Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay have left United’s midfield threadbare.
“These players are stretched. I’ve got no complaints on any of them. They give everything they’ve got,” said Solskjaer.
