Ole's at the wheel and he is continuing to chauffeur Manchester United towards a top-four finish in the Premier League. The jury is still out on whether Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a good driver or one of those who tends to cause all sorts of havoc on the road without his car ever suffering so much as a scratch.
Manchester United were flattered by a 2-1 win over Watford on Saturday afternoon as the visitors had 20 shots on goal, compared to United's eight, but it is results that matter and the Red Devils have now won 11 of their 14 league matches with Ole at the helm. They have been far from convincing but it is sometimes better to be lucky than good and they were certainly that as they marked Solskjaer's first match as permanent United boss with a win against the Hornets.
There are still a few issues to be sorted out ahead of a massive few weeks, starting with an away league game at Wolves on Tuesday night before they host Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday 13 April. We take a look at THREE changes Solskjaer could consider making to his United team for the mid-week trip to Molineux...
Drop Ashley Young
Ashley Young has shown remarkable versatility to transform himself from a direct, quick-running winger to a solid enough full-back. However, there are signs that old Father Time is beginning to catch up with the 33-year-old as he lost possession 20 times during the win over Watford, while only three of the ten long balls he attempted were successful. Furthermore, he lost two of three tackles.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Diogo Dalot is only 20 and is ready to step in to the right-back berth. The Portuguese youngster was signed from Porto for a cool £19m last summer and he is very much one for the future, although he would offer more of an attacking threat than Young if he were to start against Wolves.
Restore Victor Lindelof
Victor Lindelof missed the game against Watford as Solskjaer's said in his post-match press conference that the defender had "a couple of things to sort out" after missing Sweden's international matches against Romania and Norway to be with his wife for the birth of their first child last week. The centre-back has been a revelation since Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho as manager and a priority for the United boss should be to find an imposing defender to partner Lindelof.
Phil Jones produced one of his better performances in partnership with Chris Smalling against Watford, although the England defender was fortunate to not concede a penalty when he barged Troy Deeney. An error is never far away when Jones is in the team.
Bring Back Romelu Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku remains something of a Marmite figure at Old Trafford but there have been encouraging signs from the Belgian, who scored four league goals in three Premier League appearances before the international break. The 25-year-old played a starring role in the 3-1 Champions League win at Paris St-Germain a few weeks ago too as he scored a brace to down the fragile French champions.
Lukaku struck up a devastating partnership in tandem with Marcus Rashford in Paris and they could be unleashed against Wolves at Molineux.
Lukaku does tend to perform better away from the pressures of Old Trafford as eight of his twelve league goals have come in away games so far, while 10 of his 15 goals in all competitions have arrived on the road.
📹 @BTSportFootball
