Man Utd board’s view on Antonio Conte appointment after Cristiano Ronaldo saves the day
In pictures: Man Utd v Villarreal
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Manchester United have never contemplated hiring Antonio Conte despite their patchy form and erratic displays under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, reports say. The Red Devils came close to losing a fourth match from their last five against Villarreal in the Champions League on Wednesday night. But Cristiano Ronaldo struck late to ease the pressure on his manager.
Manchester United had to beat Villarreal after losing to Young Boys in the opening match of their Champions League campaign.
And while it wasn’t pretty, they were able to get the job done.
Alex Telles and Cristiano Ronaldo were the heroes for the Red Devils, with the duo both on target after Paco Alcacer had opened the scoring for the visitors.
But, in truth, this was another unconvincing United display.
In recent weeks, since the defeat in Switzerland, the Red Devils have been linked with Conte.
The Italian is currently available, having left Inter Milan by mutual consent earlier in the year shortly after steering them to Serie A glory.
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Yet The Athletic say that United have always been behind Solskjaer and, amid this mini crisis, have never contemplated a change.
It’s claimed the possibility of Conte taking over at this current stage is a ‘non-starter’, too.
And it seems as though United are ready to gamble with Solskjaer, whose side will need to improve if they’re to win trophies this term.
Speaking after the game, the Norwegian admitted his side got lucky by naming David De Gea as his man of the match.
“Thankfully we had the best goalkeeper in the world tonight,” he said.
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“David was fantastic. Second-half, they had more of the ball, was open and they deserved to lead.
“He had a difficult summer after [the Europa League final], he went to the Euros, didn’t play there but he’s really come back with a determination, a belief and work-rate I enjoy.
“And in this game he got his deserved outcome, because he saved us.
“He saved us tonight. We have to be realistic and say that. We’ve got two good keepers in Tom [Heaton] and Dean [Henderson] but today David deserves man of the match.
“David was fantastic, he did absolutely brilliant tonight but I didn’t like how open we were.
“We wanted to go more attacking, we played with two no.8s, wide wingers, a centre-forward and Scotty [McTominay] was left a little bit on his own defensively.
“The two centre-backs did well to stop a few counter-attacks but David was exceptional.”
And, of course, he also praised Ronaldo.
“He’s [Ronaldo] done that so many times,” Solskjaer said.
“When you saw him against the Republic of Ireland a few weeks ago [for Portugal], he missed a penalty early, didn’t touch the ball more or less and then scored two great headers in the last two minutes.
“That’s just what he’s done throughout his career,” he said.
“He’s so strong mentally.
“He stays in the game, I’ve seen him all day today, the way he’s built himself up for this game, how focused he’s been and when he gets that one chance, it’s a goal.
“But a true mark of a very good finisher is that he keeps calm when the chance arrives.
“He’s so good in front of goal and he has an impact on everyone – the crowd, the players, everyone.”
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