Its a little ironic that Ten Hag gets praise for dropping Ronaldo, a move that Ole got absolutely fleeced for by Redcafe and journalists when we played Everton. Putting Maguire on the bench has definitely been the right move. His recruitment has been good thus far, we look like a fast and able team again.
Our transitional game is our bread and butter. The same as it was under the former manager.
The players are new, but its mostly the same highs, which are of course fantastic, the lads have been balling the past few games.
The main difference is winning football matches. The vast majority of the press don't care about in-depth analyses, they're just looking for narratives to spin. The Caf is probably the same. The team is currently winning matches without Ronaldo and the performances are slowly but gradually getting better. About a year ago, most people were still ecstatic after the late winner in the CL (and the 5 goals in 5 games) and the Everton game saw us drop points at OT in consecutive games. No one cared that we looked a worse side with him on the pitch, and that - unintentional yet unfortunate - comment from SAF a couple of days later made sure that no one would ever give the manager the benefit of the doubt.
Another thing is context. Last summer, it was clear that Ronaldo, at the age of 37, was looking to leave Turin. The way we approached this, especially after the alleged interest from City, put him in the spotlight and gave him the kind of importance that he can't support any more with his performances on the pitch. He can still score goals, but his goals, although needed, don't make the difference any more at the highest level. Not on his current wages and the accommodations that must be made to build the team around his goals. This summer, when he was out looking for a new employer again, Ronaldo finally got his reality check. And because ETH has handled the situation with the utmost care thus far, he has credit in the bank.
All in all, you can argue that Solskjaer was a bit unlucky with Ronaldo because he was doomed to make any decision about him from a weak position.
Where i don't i agree though is that it was the same under Solskajer. Just because two, or more, managers utilize similar game plans doesn't necessarily mean that they are doing exactly the same things. The positioning and the spaces between the lines look much better, the build-up and our rotations in its first 2/3 are quite different to what Solskjaer was trying to do, and, even though our passing in the final third still looks a bit laboured or iffy at times, we get player in the half-spaces in better situations. That is without talking about what constitutes half of what transition football actually is: The defensive transition which, under Solskjaer, looked decent in his first season, then became bad in his second full season, until it became truly abysmal toward the end of his reign (and no, you don't get to put all the blame on Ronaldo for this). This is what ETH has truly fixed in these last games: Either by pressing high or in the middle of the park for periods within the game and/or by maintaining a good shape, we don't allow the opposition to create many good chances against us. And we do that without playing 5 at the back or with making McFred a mainstay in our midfield. If Solskjaer had done the same, in a short period of time too, he would still be here. But he isn't.
