The trip to the King Power stadium to mid-table Leicester City could have yielded a welcome three points for United following a loss to Aston Villa and a draw with Everton in their last two fixtures.
When youngster Mason Greenwood put them 1-0 up on 19 minutes, everything was going well.
That was until Youri Tielemans equalized around the half hour mark, before Caglar Soyuncu then put the Foxes ahead with 12 to spare.
When a bulked-up Marcus Rashford returning from injury leveled the score four minutes later, some blushes seemed to have been spared.
But switching off for the recommencement of play opened the door for Jamie Vardy to put Brendan Rodgers’ men on top once more.
And in injury time, the ball was allowed to pass a series of red shirts in the box as Patson Daka made it 4-2 for Leicester amid woeful set piece defending.
Three points awarded to the home side, the knives were sharpened online for Solskjaer and star man Ronaldo, who are now winless in their last three in the English top flight while stuck in fifth place.
Missing a flurry of chances, Ronaldo was clearly off the mark.
“Put a Luxembourg flag up in the away end and see if it tricks Ronaldo,” suggested one onlooker, in reference to his perceived flat-track bully record for Portugal and stat padding as international football’s all-time top scorer.
“Ronaldo wake up your team needs you,” someone else demanded in-game.
“This isn’t Luxembourg,” it was added.
“The Ronaldo honeymoon is over,” stated a more in-depth assessment.
“Back to reality with a bang.”
“An aging player on huge wages that demands a start, but to get the best out of [him] you have to set up in a certain way. Yet you often function worse as a team when he’s on the pitch.”
Others were dismayed that a Leicester side which has won just one of their last seven games “beat a Manchester United side that has Ronaldo, [Paul] Pogba, [Jadon] Sancho, Greenwood, Rashford and Bruno Fernandes”.
“EMBARRASSING,” it was added.
The blame for this falls on Solksjaer’s shoulder in the eyes of the majority, with one punter remarking “Rashford there, concentrating on his football, maybe his boss should concentrate on working on his defense” in a nod to how the England striker has been told to veer away from his work on social issues.
“I’ve never once said Ole out,” revealed a separate party.
“I’m saying it today.”
“No tactics. No sense of urgency. Picking the wrong sides. This team while has weak points is way too talented to be playing like this.”
“Man Utd fans that are still Ole in don’t genuinely believe he can be successful here, they just desperately wish he could be,” began a popular Twitter account.
“Backing the manager through emotional attachment over what’s actually best for the club does not make you a good fan. It makes you a f*cking idiot,” it was concluded.
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