Man Utd were held against Aston Villa in the Premier League at Old Trafford and here's a look at the talking points.
Midfield lacking magic
It's telling that one of the biggest talking points from Manchester United's draw against Aston Villa is a player who wasn't playing. McTominay took his seat in the directors' box alongside Dylan Levitt and Diogo Dalot ahead of kick off and will have been watching safe in the knowledge that his place in this team is under no threat.
McTominay and Paul Pogba's absence in the past few games has been glaring. Andreas Pereira and Fred have done nothing to suggest that either of their places in Solskjaer's starting XI will be under threat.
The non-existent midfield against Sheffield United were back again for the visit of Dean Smith's side and again they were dominated. It was an all round poor performance again from United so it would be unfair to pin all the blame on the men in the middle but it's hard to look past the fact that Solskjaer's team will look a different outfit once McTominay and Pogba return.
United are still ruing mistakes in previous transfer windows where they failed to replace outgoing midfielders and they always looked an injury away from a crisis in the middle of the pitch. McTominay's stock couldn't have risen any higher in the past few weeks and he hasn't even kicked a ball.
No change in tactics
Solskjaer's tactics and management have already been called into question and it's not even Christmas and the Norwegian did little to dispel those thoughts.
Last week at Bramall Lane a tactical and personnel error that led to United's worst 70 minutes of the season so far and at Old Trafford nothing was done tactically to change the game in United's favour.
In fairness to Solskjaer when you look to the bench and see Jesse Lingard, Ashley Young, Mason Greenwood, Luke Shaw and Axel Tuanzebe it hardly screams game changers. But, something wasn't clicking and Solskjaer waited until the the 74th minute to make a change.
And even then that was like-for-like. Juan Mata, making his first Premier League start since October 6, was brought off for Jesse Lingard and five minutes later it was Shaw who replaced Brandon Williams.
Mason Greenwood was the final change for Anthony Martial and while there was a change in players there was no change in tactics.
It wasn't clear what United's plan A was in the first half and while they were being held 2-2 in the second it didn't look as though Solskjaer had a Plan B either.
A big week ahead
Another disappointing result for United and Solskjaer doesn't have long to pick his players up again. Up next is the visit of Jose Mourinho's Tottenham who have won three in three in all competitions since the former United manager took over and then the Manchester derby next week.
And while Solskjaer's critics have pointed out his tactical failings, he showed against Liverpool he is capable of setting up a team to frustrate the bigger sides in the league. It's going to take a similar performance from the United manager if they're to take any points out of the next two games.
No clean sheet
United have only kept one clean sheet in their last 13 league games, despite breaking the world record transfer fee on a centre back in the summer. It's a concern for Solskjaer that his side just can't keep teams out and the back four against Aston Villa looked shaky. The usually calm Aaron Wan-Bissaka was dispossessed a couple of times in the early exchanges while Victor Lindelof still has the ability to draw a gasp from the home supporters with some of his defensive decisions.
Maguire too was off his game for much of the first half and Williams did little to test Villa's right back. It just made for a creaky performance from United's back line.
In the warm up, Maguire and Lindelof were put under pressure by McKenna in a small rondo but the pair didn't play with the same understanding and it led to nervy moments throughout.
League position
A missed opportunity for United to move up to fifth in the league which would have been their highest position since they beat Leicester. The point ensured they are up to ninth but that's just four wins from their opening 14 league games.
Two draws against two of the newly promoted sides in seven days sums up where United are right now. They have won just 18 points in the league this season which is their fewest after 14 games of a top-flight campaign since 1988-89, when they went on to finish 11th.
Not that the title was ever a realistic target but they now find themselves 22 points off league leaders Liverpool.
kachachar
835
His tactics are really a concern, coz he leaves his team on autopilot! Ole is in way over his head.
Profnick
469
of all the points you listed the only one that makes sense is the first one, WE LACK A REAL MIDFIELD, evident ever since Scott got injured. Ole has used 3 formations in those three games and switch his tactics but still to no avail,the problem is there is no midfield implement the changes. People criticized his 4-2-3-1, he used 3-5-2 and they loved it, then when it failed the criticized it, he used 4-3-3 (which some pundits suggested) and if failed now they has he lacks tactics? when your star player is sidelined for 11 games and you win 4, one with him, it shows, it just shows where you are lacking. Scott was there and helped us to the other 3 but still we needed Scott yesterday and at Bramall lane, we would have won those two games
vuuceklnp
326
people talk abt ole out where as I see that the draw against villa was totally the player's fault. The back is so nervy and the problem is if united could see few of the games out. i can surely bet we would have atleast 10 more points
Kevinjackli
301
Win % of United Managers. • Sir Alex Ferguson - 59.67% • Jose Mourinho - 58.33% • David Moyes - 52.94% • Louis van Gaal - 52.43% • Sir Matt Busby - 52.38% • Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - 27.30% Let’s give him more time and see if we can get that down to a single digit
lukzlat910
232
I've always been an Ole fan and I still will but seeing the past few games, it's both the players and his tactics, the players got a break against Astana and played really lazily against Villa, too much rest....the only bright side is that McTerminator and Pogba are injured, when they return, results should be going our way, if we don't then it's definitely Ole's tactics, I really don't want to go through the process of sacking the manager, then the players have to adjust to something and someone new again, but if his tactics don't fit now, it won't fit for the long term, I used to say "Give him time and another transfer window he'll definitely do something positive" but now I don't think it'll work, even with new signings and bad manager, nothing will work, Ole should get some experience with a Championship team first before moving to a professional club, but even if he gets sacked, we must still respect, his goal won us the UCL and treble let's not forget that so his managerial skills might be sh*t but he's still a legendary player, good luck Ole, please prove me wrong because it will be painful seeing a club legend sacked, but to improve before we start sacking here and there again here's what we need before we fully judge Ole: 1) The most important must-do thing ----- sack Woodward and the Glazers, they're all money grabbing b*tches who are a disgrace to United and football, they only care about money, money and more money, they don't care about the club, they care about their fortunes, greedy, selfish w*nkers 2) Matic, Jones, Peirera and other deadwood who don't give a sh*t should be gotten rid of once and for all 3) We need a cleansing, George Best is probably turning in his grave, we need all the legends, ALL, to give this batch of United players a loooooonnnnngggg speech about what it means to play for the club 4) We need an overhaul, here will be the new team: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Tuanzebe, Williams, Fred (he's actually improving so stop criticising him), Pogba, Maddison, Rashford, Martial, Sancho, on the bench will be Romero, Shaw, Lindelof, Lingard, Garner, Greenwood, James, I really hope it happens
hibadlpsu
100
As for me,i know many will disagree with me on this because of personal likeness to players which is killing the team ManUtd,last season we were conceding goals in every matches,because of this United spent big in the transfer market to bring in defender's,but its been worst,my main problem to United team is the defence,most importantly the Sol called Harry Maigure who United bought a record fee for a defender which to me was a waste of money,Maguire never worth 80million pounds which he was bought for to be honest,and now he's been giving a captain,what has he done to be giving a captain arm band,that's rubbish,or is it because he's an English man?Maiguire as a defender has no speed,he's not calculative,and he's easily beaten to the ball,i believe as a die hard United fan,we shouldn't have allowed Smalling to leave for Roma,he Smalling was one of United best and experience defender,i know many will disagree with me on this because of their hatred for Smalling, well i just pray that United start getting it right as soon as possible,Maiguire has not brought anything different to the United defence despite the huge money spent on him,he has been the lowest performer of all the 3guys brought inn this season,i feel he's just been over rated player,i wish my darling United team the best of luck in their match against Tottenham on Wednesday, thanks and God bless all United fans all over the world.