Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s future at Manchester United is being questioned again – and it’s our job to keep asking

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer described it as a “big step backwards”. The question remains how many more can he survive.

A much-anticipated Manchester derby proved to be a match in name only as Manchester City played cross-city rivals Manchester United off the park on Saturday afternoon.

The margin of victory – 2-0 to the away side at Old Trafford – failed to adequately reflect a contest which was all but over inside seven minutes.

That was when United defender Eric Bailly put through his own net to give Man City a lead they would never relinquish. Bernardo Silva’s second just before half-time gave his side a cushion they scarcely needed.

United had goalkeeper David de Gea to thank for a number of excellent saves in the first half and the mercy of City in the second for the score being kept to just two.

While the scoreline doesn’t say so, this was just as one-sided as the 5-0 thrashing by Liverpool in United’s last home fixture a fortnight ago and was equally damaging.

A good win over Tottenham a week ago followed by a last-gasp, Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired draw against Atalanta in midweek appeared to have given Solskjaer some much-needed breathing room.

But this defeat at the hands of their most bitter rivals and, crucially, the limp and listless nature of it have the same questions that have dogged the Norwegian’s three-year tenure being raised again.

Do United have a way of playing under him? What is their identity? Can they still live with the heavyweights at the very top of the game? Is this current feast or famine football sustainable?

No one would argue that this is where a club of Manchester United’s stature should be at. They have been so much more before in the past and will be again, but this current malaise in between surely cannot last much longer.

As journalists it’s our job to keep asking the questions and analysing the answers. Until Solskjaer finds some solutions those questions will keep on coming.