Norwegian Television 'Manipulated' Picture To Help Criticise Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

A Norwegian television channel has been accused of 'manipulating' a photo of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to make the Manchester United manager look worse.

It was a tough midweek for Solskjaer, as his team suffered a shock defeat in their Champions League opener against Young Boys.

The manager was criticised heavily following the loss to the Swiss side, even with Aaron Wan-Bissaka's sending off leaving his team a man short for over half the game, with his substitutions particularly getting a hammering.

Rio Ferdinand also had a go at his former teammate for letting Cristiano Ronaldo stand in the technical area, with the forward shouting instructions at his teammates at one point.

A Norwegian television channel, TV2, also criticised the United boss for the same reason but it appears they 'manipulated' an image to make their point.

According to Sport Witness, a picture from the game of Ronaldo shouting from the sidelines was used but the real image also had Solskjaer in the picture.

TV 2 apologised for the image and claimed it was an 'innocent mistake' and they weren't trying to purposely mislead anyone, despite the images being the centre of their argument that the United boss isn't a strong leader.

Norwegian 'press expert' Gunnar Bodahl-Johansen hit out at the controversy and explained why the 'edited' image was 'dangerous.'

"Here, the picture is used in a specific context to tell something about Solskjaer. Then it is a gross and unacceptable manipulation.

"The public can rarely control what journalists do. Journalistic working methods must be trusted by the public. Every time you do such things, you leave a little opening for the audience to think: Does it happen often?

"When this becomes known, it can naturally affect the credibility of TV 2. It makes people think: 'Has TV 2 done this before?' Regretting this does not solve that problem."

On Sunday, Solskjaer got the perfect chance to hit back at those who had criticised him, first with his words and later on the pitch.

The United boss reacted to Ferdinand's criticism and then his substitution against West Ham worked out perfectly, as Lingard went from zero to hero by scoring the winner.

A week is a long time in football...