A sense of timing was always one of Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s greatest attributes in a Manchester United shirt – from his canny ability to make an impact with limited minutes at the end of a game, to his appreciation of where to make his runs into the penalty area and, more importantly, when.
Although not wholly by his design, that skill appears to have transferred into his brief life as United’s caretaker manager as he prepares to begin his time in the dugout for the Red Devils against Cardiff City on Saturday.
For while José Mourinho was dismissed off the back of a 3-1 defeat at Liverpool, which left a 19-point chasm between the two north-west rivals, it was the Portuguese’s first league loss since the 3-1 derby reverse at the hands of City on November 11.
Those two fixtures, and the fact United were stretching the definition of the term “second best” over the course of each game, helped define Mourinho’s reign in the eyes of executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward. The club under Portuguese weren’t just falling behind their rivals, they were plummeting into the abyss.
Having to face three of the top five sides in the country, having also played Arsenal on December 5, in the last six league matches helped accelerate Mourinho’s inevitable demise. But for Solskjær, the Norwegian’s first five games represent as comfortable a re-introduction into Premier League management as is possible.
