It hasn’t taken long.
After the prodigal son’s two-goal return, all seemed well with the Manchester United world.
Four days later, the Ole-outs are once again out-shouting the Ole-ins.
All it took was a suicidal back pass by a substitute.
And instead of being complimented for “managing the game” after playing with 10 men for an hour, the old doubts – and a new one – surfaced.
Is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a top manager? Should they have bought a midfielder? There are even doubts about Cristiano Ronaldo himself!
Against Young Boys of Berne, CR7 scored his fifth goal in less than 100 minutes for club and country, with three for United, all of which a top keeper probably would have saved.
But give him credit for being there – we might call it his CR7th sense.
However, his most notable other contributions were to dive for penalties and he’s not very good at it.
For all the professionalism he exhibits in other aspects of the game, diving is not his forte – he’s too obvious. Anyway, it’s cheating and not professional at all.
(Several names come to mind as to who could give him lessons.)
The other bone of contention in the shock loss in Switzerland was that he did precious little else.
Even when his teammates were short-handed, he didn’t muck in or track back to help out.
For all the use he was, it felt like United were playing not with 10 men, but with nine.
Doubting Thomases expressed these concerns at the time of his unexpected arrival but they were lost in the euphoria.
So, too, was his treacherous dalliance with City. You wonder how Devils fans would have reacted had he gone there which he was fully prepared to.
You also wonder how he would have fared. Is it possible that he joined the wrong Manchester club?
City have more than enough midfielders to cover for him but would Pep Guardiola have tolerated his lack of movement?
Concerns that City needed a striker have been allayed by them scoring 17 goals in the last four games.
But you’d still back him to score more in blue than red: Pep, you feel, would have fitted him in.
And that’s the difference between the top echelons of European management and the nice-guy novice that is Ole.
“It could have been a well-earned point,” he insisted had Jesse Lingard not teed up Jordan Siebatcheu with the assist of the game.
In fairness to Lingard, Siebatcheu may have been hidden by the large frame of Harry Maguire.
Rio Ferdinand claimed the United boss had managed the game well and just been let down by a single mistake. But had he?
The stats disagreed. Young Boys had eight corners to United’s one; 20 attempts on goal to United’s two – the visitors’ lowest in 138 Champions League games since Opta began counting.
It was the Norwegian’s seventh defeat in 11 away matches in Europe where he’s kept only one clean sheet.
But what annoyed many United fans was the evidence of their own eyes – the withdrawal of Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes.
He was settling for a point against the weakest team in the weakest group. And it’s his team now, one that cost £500m.
There can be no more excuses.
For all the off-field influence Ronaldo is being credited with – reserve keeper Lee Grant said no player dared eat dessert after seeing him resist at a recent team dinner – he doesn’t seem to have the stomach for the battle in midfield.
Because the Portuguese is unwilling or unable to do the dirty work, Paul Pogba is being forced into a deeper role which is not his strength.
United are vulnerable to the counter attack – even Newcastle took advantage on Saturday and could have had more as could the Swiss champions.
United will beat most teams but you fear for them against City, Chelsea and Liverpool, not to mention top European sides.
They are fortunate none are in their group, but they have turned what seemed a comfortable passage into a tricky assignment.
Their Europa League final conquerors Villareal and unpredictable Atalanta await, sensing a weakness.
United should still get through – Ronaldo will probably score enough – but if they don’t, this night may go down alongside the infamous collapse to Istanbul Basaksehir last season.
Paul Scholes called the defending against the Turkish side: “Under 10s football” and Solskjaer, himself, said “it was unforgivable”.
And Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s red evoked memories of Fred’s in the loss to PSG.
All that came after a 2-1 win over PSG and a 5-0 hammering of RB Leipzig had given them one foot in the knockout phase after two games.
Failure to reach it this season would be unthinkable and Solskjaer’s position would surely become untenable.
Only the EPL title could save him but with a flaw in the system, for all the fancy names on the team sheet, it is hard to see that happening.
You also have to wonder where that would leave Ronaldo?
After the initial euphoria, it could be an anxious autumn for the Devils.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.