KEY POINTS

  • Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has everything to gain by starting Lingard and van de Beek against Tottenham
  • Both players are world-class talents who have proven their value in past appearances
  • Solskjaer's job is on the line as public scrutiny has increased due to their 5-0 loss to Liverpool

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s job security is on the line and playing Jesse Lingard and Donny van de Beek could be the change he needs to keep his job.

As noted by Daniel Murphy of the Manchester Evening News, the unpopular Norwegian manager has a ton of talent at his disposal and now may be the time to take all the risks to convince upper management and the fans to keep their faith in him.

The case for playing Lingard is always there as the winger has proved his quality multiple times this season, after scoring two late goals in the English Premier League.

His goal against Newcastle United was just a cherry on top of the already assured win, but the win against West Ham United shouts at Solskjaer to take a flier risk on him.

With the Red Devils staring down the barrel of a potential second draw of the season, Nemanja Matic found Lingard waiting just inside the box and the Englishman rifled home the game-winner at the 89th minute.

Lingard has meshed with Cristiano Ronaldo just as well as everybody expected him to, and there is no reason why Solskjaer should not take a chance on him now.

As for van de Beek, the opportunities for him to play have been few and far between with a total of 20 appearances since being acquired from Ajax for a fee o £35 million ($48.1 million) in the 2020 summer transfer window.

It seems as if Solskjaer has no ideas on how best to utilize him and it has led to some growing tensions between the manager, the player, and the player’s agent.

In the three games that he appeared in this season, van de Beek looked and played disjointed after not being able to gain any momentum in the past weeks.

The highly-touted midfielder deserves better than to just sit on the sidelines and act as Jadon Sancho’s backup, which has led him to target a January exit from the club according to a report.

With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Solskjaer needs to take a gamble on the two world-class talents that are right there sitting on the bench, waiting for an opportunity to arise.

Solskjaer’s tenure at Manchester United hinges on their next matches and it all starts with their visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, October 30 at 5:30 PM British Summer Time.

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