Man Utd should stick by Solskjaer over Conte, says Barnes

Will Ford
Barnes F365
John Barnes Liverpool

John Barnes has urged Manchester United to stick by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer until the end of the season as they can “afford to wait” for a top manager like Antonio Conte.

The former Chelsea boss has been tipped to take over from Solskjaer at Old Trafford following United’s embarrassing 5-0 defeat to Liverpool.


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But Barnes claims it would be a mistake to sack the Norwegian now, as “it’s never a good idea to change manager midway through the season”.

Barnes told BonusCodeBets: “It’s never a good idea to change manager midway through the season. If Manchester United bring in a new manager now with the team they have and the way they’re playing, nothing will change that quickly. It’s not ideal.

“Manchester United also have to look at who’s available, there’s not too many options right now. A new manager coming to Manchester United isn’t going to win them the league or finish in the top two or three. They can still finish in the Champions League places but sacking Ole now isn’t the way forward for United.”

“Where is someone like Antonio Conte likely to go before the end of the season? The top clubs in the world aren’t going to sack their managers before then, and he wouldn’t choose Newcastle over Manchester United. His style of play (Conte) wouldn’t Barcelona even though they’ve sacked Ronald Koeman.

“Once upon a time, there were lots of top managers available and lots of clubs looking for managers, Klopp went to Liverpool, Guardiola went to Man City and Tuchel went to PSG. But that calibre of manager is not available at this moment, nor are there many clubs available for those types of managers, so they can afford to wait for the right opportunity. So, for that reason, Manchester United should wait before appointing a new manager.”

Barnes also claimed Paul Pogba’s red card was a sign of his “commitment”, but admits United “need him to step up”.

“His sending off was unfortunate, he was fully committed so it was just a badly timed tackle. He didn’t mean to get sent off and it wasn’t particularly nasty, but he just mistimed the tackle and that happens in football. United want a committed Paul Pogba for the team so regardless of speculation, they need him to step up.”