Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Has Managed His Final Game At Manchester United, Will Be Sacked 'Within 48 Hours'

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be sacked as Manchester United manager 'within 48 hours' following the club's woeful 4-1 defeat to Watford, according to reports.

The Reds suffered their fifth Premier League defeat in seven games at Vicarage Road on Saturday as goals from Joshua King, Ismaila Sarr, Joao Pedro and Emmanuel Dennis sealed United's fate.

After the final whistle, The Times reported that United had scheduled an emergency board meeting at 7pm on Saturday night to discuss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's dismissal as manager.

Image credit: PA

It is believed the virtual meeting would also mention Solskjaer's compensation terms.

The report also claims The Glazer family has instructed club officials to try and persuade Zinedine Zidane to take over at Old Trafford mid-season as they sit 12 points behind leaders Chelsea.

In addition to those emergency talks, The Sun report that Solskjaer's backroom staff said their goodbyes following this weekend's defeat to Watford, with club chiefs ready to sack the Norwegian 'within 48 hours.'

The sacking will cost United a total of £7.5 million in compensation after he signed a three-year deal back in July.

That means, of course, that Solskjaer has managed his final game as Manchester United manager.

He was named the club's caretaker manager in December 2018 following the sacking of Jose Mourinho and three months later, the former United forward was appointed permanent manager on a three-year contract.

Image credit: PA

Despite being under mounting pressure from fans surrounding his position, Solskjaer believes he can still turn things around.

After the Watford defeat, he told reporters: "I always have belief in myself but of course at the moment it's a difficult time for us. I can trust every single one out there to give what they have, the staff is fantastic.

"I believe we can turn this around," he added. "I work as hard and as well as I can with the staff I've got, top people, professional players but at the moment we're not getting the results.

"The first-half is the worst we've played and it's hard for me to explain why we played the way we did and allowed them to get in our box from nothing.

"The goalkeeper could go up to the halfway line and put it in the box - we were outfought.

Thoughts on Solskjaer's future?

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Topics: Football, Manchester United, Premier League, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Sacked

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

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