Neville says Solskjaer a victim of Man Utd ‘witch-hunt’

Will Ford
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Man Utd

Manchester United were knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the victim of a “witch-hunt”.

That’s according to Phil Neville, who claims his former side’s failure to qualufy for the last 16 was far from a “disaster”.

United were pretty poor – as they often are – for the majority of the game at the Red Bull Arena and a late comeback was not enough to secure the draw required to see them through.


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Harry Maguire and David de Gea committed crimes and Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes claim Solskjaer was culpable for tactical naivety.

But Phil Neville believes the Norwegian manager receives too much stick for the job he’s done since taking over from Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “There’s an awful narrative where the minute United lose a game it seems like a disaster.

“It’s not a disaster tonight, but it’s disappointing. United wanted to be in the last 16.

“There are Manchester United teams in the past with better managers than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – like Sir Alex Ferguson – which have gone out at this stage. It does happen, it has happened.

“It’s quite a freakish time at the moment. There are managers in the Premier League who are below United in the league but have great reputations and don’t get the stick Solskjaer gets.

“If United win on Saturday – and Ole’s teams tend to do well in big moments, I think Saturday is a big moment for the manager and for the players.

“They played poorly in the first 30 minutes, they got punished in a group which was really really difficult and they’re out of the competition. They’re now in the Europa League, they’ve got to go out and win that.

“The narrative from inside the club is far, far different to that outside the club, where it seems there’s a total witch-hunt to get this boy out of the job.”