0:33 Colchester draw Manchester United at Old Trafford in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, here’s how the players reacted
Europa League games may not have been the most inspiring this season, with just two goals to celebrate, but only United and Sevilla are yet to concede in the group stage.
On top of that, United are unbeaten in their last 10 Europa League games at home and their run of 14 matches without defeat is only four short of Chelsea’s tournament record.
Partizan Belgrade are the next visitors to Old Trafford on Thursday and victory over Savo Milosevic’s side would seal a place in the knockout phase and add to the evidence that United might enjoy happier days in the cup competitions, it’s something Jose Mourinho seemed to seize upon in his first season in charge as he snared the League Cup and the Europa League.
But such dreams of further silverware seem a little far-fetched in a week when Brighton will also be welcomed to Old Trafford, sitting two points above United after back-to-back Premier League wins, and perhaps harbouring ambitions of a first-ever victory at the Theatre of Dreams.
0:50 Former Manchester United striker Andy Cole believes Marcus Rashford is more comfortable playing from the left or the right wing rather than as a No 9
After four away games in a row, the lights of home beckon for United and while the week will be dominated by Sunday’s showdown between their fiercest of rivals, two games at Old Trafford might just give us a clearer idea of where this travel-weary group of players is going.
The games and trips have come thick and fast with not much time on the training ground either, even Solskjaer admitted the value of the last international break as an opportunity to get as many of the players together and on-message and the performance against Liverpool bore that out.
1:54 Highlights of the Carabao Cup last-16 match between Chelsea and Manchester United
Learning from history
Thirty-three years ago United suffered a 4-1 League Cup defeat at Southampton that saw the 14th man to manage the club, Ron Atkinson, leave Old Trafford.
Atkinson managed just 13 points from his opening 13 league games, in the process only recording three victories.
It was a very different football club with very different expectations considering they had not won the league title for 19 years.
Fast forward to 2019 and Solskjaer has suffered a similarly grim autumn, albeit not quite as bad as that experienced by Atkinson.
He has secured 13 points from his opening 11 games, and with the Premier League table taking shape, United find themselves in 10th spot, 10 points off the top four and 18 points shy of the leaders Liverpool.
Solskjaer has overseen just three wins too.
Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth proved to be another bump in the road that put paid to a brief hiatus of three wins on the bounce in three different competitions.
Sourse: skysports.com
