After failing to win their opening three home games of a campaign for the first time since the 1972/73 season, the pressure on Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, is continuing to grow.
There’s almost a sense that if the Red Devils were to under-perform in the next two or three games, that the Norwegian will be given his marching orders.
In fairness to Solskjaer, some of the targets that he’d identified haven’t been signed, so he could point to the board’s lack of backing in the transfer market as a cogent enough argument as to why he wasn’t getting the team where he wants them to be.
That would also befall any new incumbent should Solskjaer be relieved of his duties.
In any event, one surprise name has entered the conversation to replace the Norwegian.
“With my south coast hat on you’ve got to praise Ralph Hasenhuttl – King Ralph as I’ve christened him – because I thought it was a tactical masterclass against Everton,” talkSPORT‘s Alex Crook noted.
“The one positive from the behind-closed-doors experience is you get to hear exactly what’s being said on the pitch and from the coaching staff, and he cajoled that team, he encouraged his Southampton side from the first minute to the last.
“It was a coaching masterclass, they were well-drilled, they knew how to negate Everton’s strengths, he had Danny Ings dropping into midfield much like Harry Kane has done for Tottenham in recent weeks.
“I would take Ralph at Manchester United tomorrow. I think he’s a genius.
“You know why? On this day a year ago, exactly a year to the day, Southampton lost 9-0 at home to Leicester. There aren’t many managers who would have bounced back from that.
“And not only has he bounced back, he’s gone from a position of strength now, they’ve got the eighth best record in the Premier League since that 9-0, and it’s the same group of players.
“He’s a good, old-fashioned, decent training ground coach. He ‘s got the personality and the aura about him to handle the job at Manchester United, absolutely.
“He’s a big man in terms of stature as well, he’s huge actually [he’s 6ft 2in]. I don’t think he’d be intimidated by managing those huge names, I really don’t.
“I think [he] could well follow in Pochettino footsteps and go and manage one of the big clubs in the country.”
Considering just how far Southampton have come since that 9-0 drubbing, putting Hasenhuttl forward isn’t the worst idea that anyone has had.
The only issue would be that he, like his predecessors – should he be given the opportunity, would want to be backed in the transfer market.
As Ed Woodward seems completely incapable of doing that, maybe the question should be why would Hasenhuttl potentially take the job in the first place.
‘It’s Manchester United’ isn’t really an argument if you’re unable to shape the team in the way you want.
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