There haven't been many tactical decisions that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been praised for during his time as manager of Manchester United.
In fact you're more likely to find fans using it as a stick to beat him with. Wrong substitutions, tactical ineptitude and questionable team selections; at some point over the last 17 months he's been criticised for it all.
The Norwegian is no Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp and it is unfair to compare him to two of the game's greats who have had years of top-level experience at at least two elite clubs. And while the criticism will still come and doubts will be raised over his long-term future unless results improve, there are small tactical decisions he has made that are paying off.
During the 6-0 hammering of Tranmere on Sunday it was a small but decisive gesture in the second-half that pleased the support. With Jesse Lingard and Andreas Pereira debating who should take the penalty Tahith Chong had just won Solskjaer gave Phil Jones the message to instruct Mason Greenwood to take it. Up stepped the teenager and calmly finished for United's sixth of the game.
Only a small decision by the United boss but one that stamped his authority, which has appeared lacking at times, and should benefit the team going forward. It had been a quiet afternoon for Greenwood and to get among the goals was important for the 18-year-old, especially with Marcus Rashford sidelined with a back injury.
Solskjaer's touchline messages were not as significant as his handling of Luke Shaw, injured for much of the campaign and his first-team status jeopardised by a teenager from the academy. The 24-year-old has had to work out how to regain his place but Solskjaer has continued to back the England international.
"Potentially we have the best left-back in England. Luke has the potential to be the best one," Solskjaer said last week. "And that is the great challenge for him now, Brandon has come in and done so well."
And since then the left-back has put in two solid performances on Merseyside in the space of a week. First came his display against Liverpool where he surprised in an unfamiliar role and then he nearly produced a man of the match performance at Prenton Park on Sunday. While it is easy to impress against League One relegation fodder, Shaw has shown in the last week he is prepared to rise to the challenge set by his manager.
His mentality has often been questioned during his time at the club but he showed during the summer of 2018 he has it in his locker to push his way back to the top. That summer it was Jose Mourinho he impressed by taking himself off to Dubai for a training camp ahead of pre-season. It worked.
Not only did he impress Mourinho but he picked up the club's player of the year award at the end of the season. Solskjaer's man-management approach is different to Mourinho's but, by promoting Williams, he has given Shaw the motivation he needed to get back to where he was before.
Shaw was as impressive offensively as he was defensively against Tranmere and, with the Manchester derby coming up again on Wednesday, Solskjaer's given himself a decision to make.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com