OLE GUNNAR Solskjaer was sacked by Manchester United after a horror run of five defeats in seven games.
He becomes the FOURTH manager to try – and fail – to replace Sir Alex Ferguson after his retirement in 2013.
David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho were all sacked in the past eight years, and now Solskjaer joins the gang.
The bottom line is that he won no trophies, unlike his more recent predecessors
Mourinho led United to a Europa League and EFL Cup double in 2017, while Van Gaal lifted the FA Cup in 2016 just days before he was sacked.
However Solskjaer’s win percentage was surprisingly good.
Solskjaer has the third-highest win percentage of ANY manager in United’s history.
His record of 91 wins from his 168 games in charge across all competitions is second best in the post-Fergie era – behind only Mourinho.
The Norwegian achieved a win rate of 54.2 per cent, behind Mourinho’s 58.3 per cent from 144 matches.
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His percentage is better than those of Moyes (52.9%), Van Gaal (52.4%) and fellow ex-player Ryan Giggs.
The defence has been his Achilles heel, not surprisingly given their recent 4-1 defeat to Watford and their 5-0 mauling by Liverpool.
Under Solskjaer, Man Utd conceded 183 goals in 168 matches – an average of 1.09 per game.
That compares badly to Mourinho’s United which let in 121 in 144 matches – an average of 0.84.
The attacking football that he was asked to bring in however was a positive under Solskjaer’s reign.
During his time in the Old Trafford hot seat, United scored an average of 1.83 goals per game.
This is a marked improvement on Mourinho’s more pragmatic approach, which saw the Red Devils score on average 1.69 goals per game.
However it is the shocking defensive performances this season that have cost Solskjaer his dream job.
Only the bottom two sides in the Premier League, Norwich and Newcastle, have conceded more goals than United.
United have managed just two clean sheets in 12 games.
Whoever takes over now, their first task will be tightening up the defence.
