Premier League 2019-20: 3 reasons why Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can finish the season as Manchester United manager

#2 Absence of a competitive squad

Manchester United have desperately missed Pogba and Martial while they recovered from injury.

Solskjaer has been on the receiving end of the ire of the United fans due to the sorry state of affairs on the pitch. However, the Norwegian has been out of luck with injuries this season. Only Norwich City has missed more players due to injuries than Manchester United this season. The fact that the Canaries are 19th in the table shows how devastating injuries can be.

Solskjaer has missed Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw for majority of the games so far and Eric Bailly is yet to kick a ball this season. While Martial returned to the bench against Liverpool, Pogba and Shaw are yet to regain full fitness. In addition, Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan-Bissaka have both missed a couple of games while Axel Tuanzebe picked up a knock while warming up on Sunday. It would be unfair to judge the Norwegian in a season where injuries have hurt his chances.

Manchester United’s inability to reinforce the squad in the summer transfer window has also been a reason for the club’s dismal run so far. United made three stellar signings but their net spend in the summer was a mere £75m. It is clear that this squad is not at the level needed to compete for the league title, so Solskjaer deserves to be judged only after he gets to assemble a team of his liking.