Search icon

Football

05th Mar 2019

Jose Mourinho questions long-term suitability of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Ole's at the wheel but a crash wouldn't surprise Mourinho

Darragh Murphy

mourinho

Ole’s at the wheel but a crash wouldn’t surprise Mourinho

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s impact at Manchester United has been nothing short of remarkable since taking over from Jose Mourinho before Christmas.

The former United striker has guided the Red Devils to 13 wins out of 16 games, suffering just one defeat in almost three months in caretaker charge.

Solskjaer looks destined to get his dream job on a permanent basis this summer and given the turnaround he’s masterminded on the pitch, it’s not difficult to see why.

The better that United play under Solskjaer, the worse it looks for Mourinho, whose position became untenable, not just because of the results, but because of fans’ frustration over the brand of football that was being espoused by the Portuguese.

But Mourinho has seemed to question the long-term suitability of Solskjaer for the role, suggesting that the Norwegian might be enjoying something of a temporary boost in motivation.

Mourinho made the claim when discussing Fulham’s recent decision to sack Claudio Ranieri and replace him with Scott Parker until the end of the season.

“Can [Fulham] get a better manager than Claudio? Not at all,” Mourinho said on beIN SPORTS.

“Can you compare the experience between Claudio and Scott, who is going to coach a team for the first time? Not at all.

“But sometimes in football, and you have the example with my former club (Manchester Utd hiring Solskjaer), that sometimes changes on the immediate – I don’t believe too much in these changes in the long term – but these changes on the immediate, there are sometimes some positive results.”