Man United could have moved for Pochettino or Conte but stuck with Solskjaer when he was plainly drowning. They now have no boss and no plan. What next?
Two weeks passed in which Manchester United could have got the house in order, planned for change and plotted a way out of the latest crisis.
Instead, they chose torpor. They froze. They channeled the spirit, not of Ferguson or Busby, but of Wilkins Micawber. Something will turn up, they concluded. And, something actually did turn up. A 4-1 defeat by Watford.
Manchester United sank deeper into the void of confusion having failed to grab the international break as an opportunity to change their recent narrative. Anyway, the club has finally removed Solskjaer with little more than 48 hours to go before a crucial Champions League tie and a game against Chelsea on Sunday.
Worse, they have bungled his succession. So that Michael Carrick is in charge while the club seeks to appoint an interim. United has appointed a manager they barely trust to see out the month while they search for a man, they barely trust to see out the season.
Mauricio Pochettino or Zinedine Zidane appear to be the men that Manchester United want. But even this seems more opportunism than strategy. Zidane is the last A-list candidate who remains available after Antonio Conte went to Tottenham and Pochettino took Paris Saint-Germain. And yet, all of the problems United have experienced this season were visible when those men were free to talk.
Despite these various windows of opportunity, the club plugged away with a manager who was plainly drowning, with players who were deteriorating under his stewardship, with signings who did not fit in, until on Saturday when Solskjaer’s position became untenable.
And now they look naïve and ridiculous because they have no plan. The official line is that they have not even contacted a potential successor out of respect to Solskjaer and fears any approach may leak. Yet they had two clear weeks between games.
The question remains, where is the strategy here? Where is the Plan?