Man Utd’s West Ham nightmare shows Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has created a big problem
Marcus Rashford limped off against West Ham as Manchester United suffered a 2-0 defeat to the Hammers to pile the pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Posted Monday, September 23, 2019 by Dailystar.co.uk
Marcus Rashford limps off during Manchester United's defeat to West Ham
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was warned that failing to replace Romelu Lukaku could prove costly.
The Manchester United boss decided against pursuing a new striker in the summer because of his faith in 17-year-old Mason Greenwood, who he has described as “one of the best finishers I’ve seen”.
Greenwood is acting as back-up to Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial but the plan has blown up in Solskjaer’s face due to injuries.
Martial has not featured since the defeat to Crystal Palace due to a thigh injury which has allowed the likes of Andreas Pereira and Juan Mata to continue in the starting XI.
A result of the limited options saw Rashford play the full 90 minutes on Thursday as Greenwood netted the only goal in a 1-0 Europa League win against minnows Astana.
Unfortunately for Solskjaer, Greenwood came down with tonsillitis on the eve of the West Ham clash, which left him with little attacking back-up for Rashford at the London Stadium.
To make matters worse, the England international appeared to be struggling with fatigue and delivered a sluggish performance before limping off in the 60th minute of the 2-0 defeat.
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville hit the nail on the head when he said: “Rashford doesn't quite look right.”
Solskjaer was forced to turn to Jesse Lingard, who has not assisted or scored a goal since January, to turn the game around when Rashford exited the pitch.
It summed up a limp display from a team lacking verve that looked lost of ideas and clueless in attack.
United managed only three shots on target, with only one effort from Harry Maguire seriously testing West Ham stopper Lukasz Fabianski.
Neville, again, summed up the malaise he was witnessing.
“There are just signs there that Manchester United are a bit lethargic,” he said. “They are not recovering really well.
“There are nine changes today so it’s not as if you can say they all played in the Europa League on Thursday night.
“They don’t look right!”
How Solskjaer could have wished he had Lukaku back in his roster.
The Belgian could have eased Rashford’s workload by starting against Astana while he would have provided a viable Plan B against West Ham.
Lukaku has turned his fortunes around at Inter Milan, scoring three goals in four Serie A appearances.
Speaking this week, Solskjaer defended his call to sell Lukaku without bringing in a replacement.
"For me, it was the right decision,” the Norwegian tactician retorted.
"Because I think for the club and for him [Greenwood], I think he's going to be important for us this season.
"He's not played a lot so far but he'll get his minutes and he'll grow and develop."
After witnessing Rashford limp off on another disappointing afternoon, even Solskjaer must now be wondering if he believes his own words.
He has created his own problem and must now find a way to solve it.
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