'Early Champions League exit not a disaster for United'

Phil Neville claims there is an ‘agenda’ against Ole Solskjaer at Manchester United and gave his verdict on their Champions League exit.

Up until now, there remains an unclear agenda pushing for Ole Solskjaer to get the sack at Manchester United, says Phil Neville.

The Red Devils missed out on a spot in the Champions League knockout stages after losing 3-2 away at RB Leipzig on Tuesday night.

Solskjaer only needed his side to take home a point on the road but the plan came crashing when they were 2-0 down after just 13 minutes.

Midway through the second half, Justin Kluivert capitalized on poor defending from Maguire and equally questionable goal-keeping from De Gea to make it 3-0.

Bruno Fernandes reduced the deficit from the penalty spot before Paul Pogba’s goal set up a frantic finale, but Leipzig held on to book their place in the Round of 16 for the second successive year.

Once again, calls have come for Solskjaer to be sacked following another consequential defeat but Phil Neville believes such claims are baseless and have an ‘agenda’.

🥴 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has suffered defeat in six of his first 10 #UCL matches as head coach, the worst return of any manager in charge of an English club at said milestone pic.twitter.com/4GU20QZrFT
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) December 8, 2020

“There’s an awful narrative where the minute United lose a game it seems like a disaster,” Phil told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“It’s not a disaster tonight, but it’s disappointing. United wanted to be in the last 16.

“There are Manchester United teams in the past with better managers than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – like Sir Alex Ferguson – which have gone out at this stage. It does happen, it has happened.

“It’s quite a freakish time at the moment. There are managers in the Premier League who are below United in the league but have great reputations and don’t get the stick Solskjaer gets.

“If United win on Saturday – and Ole’s teams tend to do well in big moments, I think Saturday is a big moment for the manager and for the players.”

Indeed, Saturday will be a big day for Solskjaer as United host City at Old Trafford for the Manchester derby. Another loss to his rivals could leave the Norwegian manager in a pretty delicate situation regarding his future at the club.