Are Manchester United back?

It is some sort of unwritten rule in football, however much subjective it is, that a managerial change is equivalent to change in fortunes, and one for the better at that. Manchester United may have been exceptions to this rule the last few times but that can only be blamed on fallacious appointments rather than the rule itself.

United’s very own Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over the reins at Old Trafford from the sacked Mourinho. His first task at hand was a trip to Wales to face the high-on-confidence Cardiff City. This was like an audition for the Norwegian, if you will, which he passed in one take by thumping five goals past the Bluebirds. And suddenly the Manchester United camp is a happy camp.

So, what changed?

Be Yourself

One didn’t have to be too clever to see what was so blatantly wrong at United under Mourinho. The attacking lustre that the United of old was known for and their oppositions were afraid of was missing. Any progressive manager could have come in and improved this team by 30 per cent in next to no time, and Solskjaer did exactly that.

The ex-United forward kept it really simple. A couple of training sessions, a few dots and diagonal lines on a white-board, and to his players, he said, "go out and express yourselves on the pitch", and the goal from Anthony Martial epitomised the whole change.

Play with Freedom

One of the most irksome things in football is when teams don’t play to their potential and United were doing just that. Jose’s style of play was just sucking the joy out of everyone.

That seems to have changed now. Adventurous football has pushed the agricultural football out of the park and the players have been instructed to go out with all the attacking panache that they have in them.

The players such as Martial, Pogba, Rashford et al, didn’t need a second invitation and United were three goals up by half-time, rounding the game off by putting five past the opponents, the fifth coming in the injury time.

Yhis is the Manchester United we have all known for years under Sir Alex Ferguson and perhaps secretly hated it. But the rot has set in too much and Solskjaer will need some time to steady this colossal rocky ship, but no one can argue the fact that this is a great start to his supposedly short stint.

Man-Management should be the key

Solskjaer has started on the front foot in all aspects of management. In this modern-age football, man management is something a manager must be good at in order to extract the best from their players and the ex-United player just seems the right fit.

The way he greeted a few Cardiff players from his time there at the end of the game just strengthens that conjecture. There’s no doubt every player will improve under his tutelage.

Solskjaer, in his playing days at Old Trafford, was a huge fan favourite. He earned himself a legendary status after scoring the winning goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League finals in 1999. United had won ‘the treble’ that season. And, against Cardiff, on Sunday, he just solidified that status.

Mourniho is history and Old Trafford is a happy place again. The toxicity has been replaced with its antidote and it has started to take its healing effect. But, it's only the early days. It was just Cardiff, a confident team alright, but the team who’s spent most of its season at the bottom of the Premier League table, nonetheless.

United will face Huddersfield on the Boxing Day, followed by Bournemouth coming Sunday, both at Old Trafford, and then Newcastle United away for their first game of the new calendar year. Nothing is a given in football but if the performance against Cardiff is anything to go by, those 3 games should be winnable.

The real test lies on the 13th of January when he takes his team to Wembley to face Tottenham Hotspur and a positive result would only do a great deal of good if Solskjaer were to be the United’s boss for more than an interim period.