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The three biggest changes Solskjaer has made at Man Utd this season

If you look at the starting XI for Manchester United's opening weekend of the season win against Chelsea and compared it to the likely strongest team Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can field now, then there wouldn't be many changes.



Nine of the 11 would probably start still if everyone was fit. Daniel James came off the bench but would now be in from the first whistle, while Bruno Fernandes would obviously be worthy of a place too.

Although that game was won 4-0 it was a false dawn for United, and it wasn't a performance that convinced either, despite the glut of goals.



Indeed it would be a month before United won again and Solskjaer's side claimed victory in just three of their first 12 games in all competitions.

But before the 2019/20 season was suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic, United were unbeaten in 11, conceding just twice, regularly troubling the scorers and looking like a much more threatening and consistent side.



So if the personnel haven't changed, what has? These are the three key decisions made by Solskjaer that have contributed to United's improved performances as the season has developed.



It tells us something that the two players from the XI who started at Chelsea that definitely wouldn't be in United's strongest team now are Andreas Pereira and Jesse Lingard. This isn't to pick out those two in particular, but their struggles echoed United's problems in finding any creativity.



For much of this season this has been a side that only really thrived on the counter attack. They just didn't have the players to break down a deep defence, which was reflected in the number of disappointing results they had against the Premier League's also-rans, despite raising themselves for the biggest games when they had the space to break into.



The £47million signing of Fernandes was the catalyst for change. The Portugal international has added a spark of creativity and the raised the levels of those around him. Now United aren't just beating the teams they should, they're thrashing them and in five of their 11 unbeaten games they've scored at least three times. After the opening day win against Chelsea, it was another 13 games before they found the net three times in a single game.



When Marcus Rashford captained United against Manchester City in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final early in January he became the seventh different player to do the job from the start this season. It was an abysmal record.



The fact club captain Ashley Young was in and out of the side didn't help, but the armband was being passed around regularly and at times it felt like an audition. If it was then it was Harry Maguire that did enough to impress, when Young joined Inter Milan the £80million centre back was appointed as the new captain and the stability looks to have helped.



It's much easier to be club captain when you're in the side every week. Maguire feels confident enough to lead and he's been an impressive captaincy, despite his elevation to the role within six months of arriving at the club. That continuity of leadership has been vital in the improved form since the end of January.



This has been a gradual process this season, but the confidence in this squad that had been eroded in the final days of the Jose Mourinho era has been restored.

That's been most noticeable recently in the way Luke Shaw has been playing since his return from injury, but also throughout the season with Rashford and Anthony Martial.



They've both had their best campaigns in front of goal for the club and it's obvious they've been playing with a freedom that had been lacking for a year or two beforehand.

Solskjaer has managed to inject some freedom and belief into this squad and it's clearly begun to pay dividends.

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