Manchester United need to sack Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and bring in former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte as his replacement, following yet another dismal defeat for the under-fire Red Devils boss.
Speaking to talkSPORT, former Aston Villa captain Gabriel Agbonlahor said United ‘need to bite the bullet’ after losing to his old club at Old Trafford.
Solskjaer’s week has been pretty awful, having lost to West Ham in the third round of the Carabao Cup and then to Villa in the Premier League, both at Old Trafford.
It was in fact the Villains’ first win at the Theatre of Dreams since 2009 and the result has heaped even more pressure on the Norwegian.
Back-to-back defeats at home follow a poor opening to the new Champions League campaign, with United suffering defeat on the road to Swiss minnows Young Boys – in a game that brought Solskjaer’s game management and tactical nous under the spotlight.
And, although the former striker is a club legend, Agbonlahor says it’s time United were ruthless and take him out of the hotseat for the sake of the team and the club’s title ambitions – just as Chelsea did by replacing club legend Frank Lampard and with Thomas Tuchel.
Instead, Agbonlahor says Solskjaer should be given a role in the club’s boardroom.
The ex-Villa star told talkSPORT: “If I was Manchester United now… Chelsea did it with Lampard….
“They got rid of Lampard, which was hard as he’s a club legend, but they got rid of him, they brought in Tuchel and look what’s happened.
“Manchester United need to now take Ole out of it, give him a job in the board somewhere, bring in Conte, he’ll get better out of these players.
“Even his [Solskjaer] decision’s during the game, Maguire was limping for ten minutes before he brought him off, big managers will take players off if they notice they’re not moving right.
“You need a goal in the last ten minutes of the game and you bring on [Edinson] Cavani who not really played much football this season.
“You got [Jesse] Lingard there who just came on against West Ham and put it in the top corner, you got Sancho who you bought for £70million. I just think some of his decisions, Solskjaer, have been miles off it.
“For me, Manchester United need to bite the bullet now. Bring in Conte who is out there, Zinedine Zidane is out there, bring in a manager who will get better out of these players.”
Echoing Agbonlahor’s words, one Manchester United supporter called in to talkSPORT after the defeat to Villa to further state the club’s need to potentially bring in Conte or Zidane.
“I think Gabby is probably right,” said Andrew the Red Devils fan.
“Another disappointing performance today, Ronaldo and Bruno were nowhere really to be seen, our main guy today was Greenwood. It could have been two or three for Villa.
“Solskjaer has probably taken Man United as far as he can. We’re not going to compete, we’re already out of the League Cup, we’re not going to win the Champions League and we’re the fourth best team in the Premier League.
“Gabby is right, we should probably look at someone like Conte or Zidane who is a different level and is available.”
Solskjaer, though, was keen to assure supporters his players are ready to bounce back.
“We had started the season well until today,” the Norwegian manager said. “This is our first loss in the league, it is very finely balanced. I know these players, I know they will fight to put this right.”