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Michael Owen's Stinging Two Minute Rant On Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Is The Best Bit Of Punditry This Year

Michael Owen's Stinging Two Minute Rant On Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Is The Best Bit Of Punditry This Year

Michael Owen did not hold back on Ole Gunnar Solskjær after Manchester United were beaten 2-0 by rivals Manchester City.

Michael Owen laid into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in a ferocious rant after Manchester United were beaten 2-0 by rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford.

City, who struck twice in the first half through an Eric Bailly own goal and a Bernardo Silva effort on the stroke of half-time, enjoyed one of the easiest derby victories in recent history.

Image: PA
Image: PA

Former England striker Owen covered the game for Premier League productions alongside ex teammates Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreaves.

And after watching a dismal showing from the Red Devils, a furious Owen unleashed on Solskjaer and United.

He made a comparison to the early days of Jurgen Klopp's time at Liverpool and slammed Solskjaer for having no plan or way of playing.

"Manchester United have collected a fantastic array of players but they don’t look like a team whereas Pep Guardiola, whatever team he manages, they’ve got a distinct style of play," Owen said.

"That’s what you look for in a manager and a coach is to put your impression on it.

"It’s a surprise that you turn up and with Manchester United you don’t know what formation they’re going to play. They are collecting a load of players all these great players from around the world and they are chopping and changing all the time.

"You’ve got to be able to see further than the end of your nose and think this is the way we’re going to play no matter what. We are going to buy players for these positions and now let’s play this way.

"If things go wrong and you concede five against Liverpool you don’t think, 'the defence is rubbish let’s go and put one more player in there'. It’s ridiculous.

"I go back to what Jurgen Klopp did at Liverpool and he’s the best exponent at it he came in and said this is how we’ll play, our full-backs will bomb forward, we are going to have a sitting midfield and play three up front. It weeds out the weak. The poor players get weeded out because they get exposed in a formation.

"All Ole Gunnar Solskjaer does, as soon as there is a weak player he covers for him and puts even more defenders in and in the meantime you’re buying hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of players. Don’t do that, weed out the weak, if you’re not good enough get someone else.

"All they are doing at the moment is covering for weaknesses and looking at the next week and thinking 'good team let's play loads of defenders'. Bad team, let's play a load of attackers. It’s rubbish, that’s not how you go about things. You need a long-term plan.

"Weed out the rubbish if that’s the case but you have to go through a bit of pain on the way. If their target is to win the league then that’s how they’ve got to do it."

Often Owen's punditry has been widely criticised but his passionate piece yesterday received a whole lot of praise - with the general consensus being that he is bang on the money.




Incredibly, after the latest result, 21% of Manchester United's home defeats in the Premier League have come under Solskjaer.

The Norwegian is not expected to be sacked anytime soon, however, and is slated to be in charge for the trip to Watford after the international break.

Featured Image Credit: Image: DAZN

Topics: Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Manchester United, Michael Owen, Manchester City, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer