The board of Manchester United has given manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the clichéd vote of confidence.
Sky Sports have reported that the board of Manchester United have "no intention" of dismissing the manager.
BREAKING: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has retained the support of the Manchester United board despite last night's loss to Burnley at Old Trafford.
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) January 23, 2020
A win over Burnley would have eased pressure on the former striker, but United slipped to a second consecutive 2-0 loss on Wednesday night at Old Trafford. This was a first win for the Clarets at the Manchester venue for 58 years.
Downward
It was a disappointing turnaround with United having won at Turf Moor in the reverse fixture less than a month ago.
The stats for Solskjaer are damning, he has now taken just 42 points from a possible 96 in the Premier League as permanent manager, the "Ole's driving the bus" merriment has faded to black. The team has lost more times in the league than they have won under the Norwegian's permanent stewardship.
United have dropped 18 points in their last 12 games, and have 11 fewer points than they did after 24 matches last season, an indictment of the club's direction under the former United striker.
There have been injuries, and they continue to mount, but questions have been raised about how Solskjaer managed these injuries, particularly that of Marcus Rashford. The England striker has been ruled out with a significant back injury having come off the bench in the FA cup replay.
Solskjaer says he will need to go to the transfer market to ease the pressure on his young side, that has been ravaged by injury. He only has eight days left to plug that gap. given how the Manchester United board has played the market over the last few seasons, eight days to bring in up to three players, as has been suggested, seems unlikely.
The board have expressed their confidence in the manager, but can the manager have confidence in the board to deliver him the players he needs in such a short time.