Former Ireland international Damien Delaney joined Joe Molloy on The Football Show on Tuesday to discuss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jadon Sancho.
Alex Ferguson dropped Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in it with Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Yep, that's a sentence that makes sense.
It was an unusual development for many reasons. First and foremost, Ferguson would have likely known he was being videoed. Secondly, Ferguson's suggestion that you always start your best players doesn't hold up against his own history.
A conspiracy theorist might think Ferguson was channelling his inner Jed Bartlett.
Regardless of whether Ferguson knew he was on camera or not, Damien Delaney believes the criticism of Solskjaer for not starting Cristiano Ronaldo is unfair.
"I'm actually going to come down on Solskjaer's side here," Delaney said.
"I think he was probably right to rest him. At 36 years of age it was inevitable that he was going to be left out of games. Everton at home? What was the point of assembling a squad with 100s of 100s of millions if you're not going to be able to rest people.
"The days of Ronaldo playing 70 or 80 games are well and truly behind him. In order to maximize his output, you're going to have to give him days off."
Delaney doesn't believe that Ferguson was doing anything sinister but it's not helpful for Solskjaer who is in a difficult position.
Ronaldo is playing well when he is on the field. That's perfectly fine. But Manchester United need the same from Jadon Sancho.
England's Jadon Sancho during a training session at St George's Park, Burton upon Trent. Picture date: Tuesday October 5, 2021.Sancho was their biggest signing of the summer. He's the long-term star whereas Ronaldo is just a short-term stopgap. Solskjaer isn't getting anything out of him so far. He was amongst the worst players on the field in that Champions League loss to Young Boys.
Delaney thinks that's been a key failure for Solskjaer so far this season. Solskjaer's coaching isn't on the same level as Borussia Dortmund's. Sancho isn't a player who can just go out and play to be effective. He needs very specific direction from Solskjaer.
"A guy who doesn't seem to have a whole lot of direction. He just seems to have been bought and told 'You're a good player, go and stand on the wing. Here's the ball, please do something.'
"I'm not sure he's that type of player. He's probably a player who needs an awful lot of instruction, an awful lot of rules, ground rules of where to be and when to be. When number sixes have the ball you have to be in this position, when the fullback has the ball you have to be in this position, all these things that young players crave now.
"All the kids that come from academies love this stuff.
"He just looks like he's lost on the pitch."
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