Man Utd’s bruising defeat by City isn’t an anomaly. Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, it’s the new normal

Still, Solskjaer does not seem to be constructing anything in terms of an idea of play. It remains so vague, so dependent on reactive football and counter-attacking

Manchester United are a team completely lacking in direction (Getty)

At half-time on Tuesday night, an irate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer forced himself to calm down slightly, and to strike a more positive tone in front of his Manchester United players. It was naturally difficult, since he admitted that first half against Manchester City had been “the worst we’ve played”.

Solskjaer argued to them that it was only the first half, and that the second offered the opportunity for something like a clean slate, to reset themselves.

The players did that to a degree, but it is a message they’ve heard before. It has pretty much been the pattern at Old Trafford since March, a period when they’ve been unable to win three consecutive league games.

It is remarkable to think that, as recently as a week ago, United were facing into the new year with new hope since they’d won two league games in a row and were facing a nascent Arsenal who should really have been there for the taking. Solskjaer’s side instead gave way, and not just in that game.

They followed it with that dismal 0-0 at Wolves and have now followed that with this collapse against City. The fact it wasn’t as bad as looked like it would be at half-time is no real solace, because a “tired” City – in the words of Pep Guardiola – so visibly dropped off. They knew the game was won, and it’s difficult not to think the tie is too.

City are on course for yet another trip to the League Cup final. It is meanwhile difficult to know where United are going.

This is the great danger of this period, though.

After 10 months since the win over Paris Saint-Germain where they’ve been pretty much teetering on the brink, and perpetually wavering between a stumble and a step forward, there is suddenly the threat this January period could see so many problems come together and unravel.

So many of those problems of course go way beyond the manager, but a core issue is that he just doesn’t seem to be constructing anything in terms of an idea of play. It remains so vague, so dependent on reactive football and counter-attacking, that ultimately means it wavers so much.

One source at another high-profile European club openly wondered whether “the win rate would be much more different with the kit man in charge”.

And whatever about building attacks, it doesn’t seem to be building the confidence of a fairly fragile and incomplete squad.

They are absolutely crying out for some kind of short-term creativity in the absence of Paul Pogba, even a stop-gap individual signing.

Sources say Ruben Neves has been mooted as a January target, especially as James Maddison is really the big summer target, but that the Wolves midfielder is not currently interested in a move to Old Trafford.

Back to the drawing board, then, and looking around the market.

Back to looking at the fixture list, for that is what so much of United’s form seems dependent on.

They are in that regard lucky that it’s a home game against 20th-placed Norwich City next, rather than the following week’s trip to Liverpool.

Manchester United are a team completely lacking in direction (Getty)

Except, right now, you wouldn’t really bank on them in any individual game. The early patterns of this season have already been disrupted, in that they no longer look so good against the top sides and mediocre against the rest.

They just looked awful against City. They look a team on a precipice. This was duly the kind of descriptive language Solskjaer used. “Even though it’s a steep mountain to climb, we can still climb it.” He was talking about this League Cup tie, but such language really refers to the situation.

Solskjaer referring to the United spirit of the past, to epic comebacks, just bears no weight at this point. They have much more basic present issues.