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Tag: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

  • Why I signed Cavani – Solskjaer

    Why I signed Cavani – Solskjaer

    Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer thinks Edinson Cavani can provide ‘energy, power and leadership’ to his squad after the striker completed a move to Old Trafford.

    The 33-year-old striker has signed a one-year deal with an option for another year after his seven-year spell with PSG ended this summer.

    And with experience in France and Italy with Napoli, Solskjaer thinks Cavani will bring plenty of positivity to Old Trafford.

    He said: “Edinson is an experienced ultimate professional who always gives everything for his team. His goalscoring record for club and country is fantastic and we are delighted to sign a player of his calibre.

    “He’ll bring energy, power, leadership and a great mentality to the squad but, most importantly, he’ll bring goals. He has had a brilliant career so far, winning trophies at almost every club he has played for, and he still has so much more to give at the highest level.

    “The opportunity for our young players to learn from one of Europe’s top goalscorers over the last 10 years is fantastic and it will really benefit them going forward.

    “Edinson knows exactly what it takes to succeed and we are all looking forward to seeing him make an impact at Manchester United.”

  • See what Man Utd fans are saying on social media after embarrassing defeat to Mourinho’s Tottenham

    See what Man Utd fans are saying on social media after embarrassing defeat to Mourinho’s Tottenham

    Manchester United fans are not taking their humiliating defeat to former manager, Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday evening easy.

    in a similar, embattled manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has the club’s 6-1 hammering at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League (EPL) on Sunday is his worst day at the club.

    To protest their disgust, angry fans took to social media to demand Solskjaer’s sack. #OleOut.

    See selected reactions below:

    https://twitter.com/Maximus_domian/status/1312873383240118274?s=20

    https://twitter.com/OleCunt/status/1312860271308869635?s=20

  • Tottenham humiliation: Today is my worst day as Man Utd manager, player – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

    Tottenham humiliation: Today is my worst day as Man Utd manager, player – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

    Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says their 6-1 hammering at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League (EPL) on Sunday is his worst day at the club.

    It was Manchester United’s joint worst loss in the Premier League era —- equalling their 6-1 defeat by Manchester City in 2011.

    “It’s a horrible feeling, the worst day I’ve had as a Manchester United manager and player,” said the Norwegian after his side, reduced to 10 men for the last hour, were ripped apart by Jose Mourinho’s Spurs.

    “I’ve been part of big defeats before and we’ve bounced back.

    “So, we’ve just got to let the boys go away on international duty, find their mojo themselves and the others that are going to stay here, we’ve got to help them.

    “After a result like this, you need to clear your mind and head and look forward,” said Solskjaer.

    The defeat, coming before Monday’s transfer deadline, is sure to spark even more criticism of Manchester United’s failure to significantly strengthen Solskjaer’s squad during the summer window.

    Solskjaer was a member of the Manchester United squad which won the UEFA Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup under Alex Ferguson in 1999.

    But he said he was not going to use the situation to shield himself from criticism.

    “If it’s a different shape, mentality, I don’t know, but it will be different. We can’t accept performances like this.

    “I hold my hands up, I’m in charge and I’m responsible for this,” he said.

    Manchester United’s defending was shambolic as they trailed 4-1 at the break.

    “Sometimes you make mistakes. That’s part of life and we made too many mistakes in one game of football and that shows in the result against a very good football team,” Solskjaer said.

    “They are a team full of quality and we got punished almost every time we made a mistake.”

  • Solskjaer gives Man Utd transfer update

    Solskjaer gives Man Utd transfer update

    Manchester United are still working on giving the squad ‘a boost’ before the transfer window closes, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed.

    Donny van de Beek is currently the only addition to Solskjaer’s squad this summer after the club wrapped up a swift deal with Ajax.

    But, with negotiations stalling with Borussia Dortmund over a deal for Jadon Sancho and the October 5 deadline looming, time is running out for United to bring in fresh faces.

    Alternatives to Sancho are being considered and Solskjaer confirmed the club are working on getting deals over the line in the next couple of weeks.

    “I can’t say anything about other clubs’ players, can’t speculate,” Solskjaer said about Sancho.

    “We understand to get further we need to develop what we have and strengthen the team but let’s wait and see if we manage to bring anyone in.

    “I’ve been in dialogue with the club, we’re always discussing and let’s see if we can bring anyone in.”

  • Solskjaer confirms decision on Maguire captaincy

    Solskjaer confirms decision on Maguire captaincy

    Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed Harry Maguire will keep the captain’s armband at Manchester United.

    The England centre-back was found guilty under Greek law of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and repeated attempts of bribery after an altercation with police on the Greek island of Mykonos, but his 21 months and 10 days prison sentence was suspended.

    Maguire has since lodged an appeal and is expected to have a retrial, while the Greek prosecutor has criticised him for refusing to apologise for the incident.

    Solskjaer commended the 27-year-old for the way he has reacted to the situation and says he sees no reason to strip him of the captaincy.

    “Of course, Harry, as you said, had a difficult summer. He didn’t have a long break,” he said in an interview with MUTV.

    “His break was different to others as we gave him a few more days and, after, he’s come back and looked fine.

    “He’s handled it really well and, of course, I’ll be here to support him. He is going to be our captain. We’ll just leave Harry and his people and the process to run.

    “For me, he is a top, an absolute top human being and has always been a positive guy with the right values. So I really hope we can see Harry performing at his best.”

  • Solskjaer responds to Jadon Sancho transfer talk

    Solskjaer responds to Jadon Sancho transfer talk

    Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer refused to talk about rumoured transfer target Jadon Sancho after the Red Devils advanced to the Europa League semi-finals.

    United booked their spot in the final four of Europe’s secondary club competition after edging Danish opponents Copenhagen 1-0 in extra time on Monday.

    But attention turned to Borussia Dortmund star Sancho post-match amid ongoing speculation over the England international’s future.

    Asked about Sancho, Solskjaer replied: “I can’t comment on other team’s players, I can’t do that. You know that. I never do.”

    On the match itself in Cologne, Solskjaer said: “I am delighted that we’re through. I think we deserved to win tonight. It could have been one of those nights that you ended up with a penalty shootout. They made it hard for us.

    “It’s a good team we played against, well organised. They had a gameplan – we knew they were going to be hard to break down. We knew we would get chances.”

  • Solskjaer hits back at Lampard over VAR narrative

    Solskjaer hits back at Lampard over VAR narrative

    Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hit back at Frank Lampard after his Chelsea counterpart suggested Video Assistant Referees (VAR) have favoured them this season.

    Lampard said Manchester United benefited from contentious VAR decisions and poor on-pitch decisions.

    He commenting on how a “clear and obvious decision” went their way on Thursday when Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha was fouled but no penalty kick was awarded.

    Ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea, Solskjaer suggested Manchester United have also been unlucky with decisions.

    “I can sit here for hours now and try to talk about this. It looks like there’s a narrative. It looks like people want to influence whoever is making the decisions,” the Norwegian told reporters on Saturday.

    “I hear people talking about luck, that we’ve been lucky more than unlucky. If you look at the factual decisions —- I don’t want to sound like a certain manager talking about facts —- but if you’re offside, you’re offside. That’s clear.”

    Solskjaer listed incidents in which he felt Manchester United were hard done by, describing how a late penalty kick against Tottenham Hotspur was overturned.

    He also recalled how Southampton’s Oriol Romeu and West Ham’s Mark Noble should have been sent off for rash tackles.

    “So, it’s actually me that should be complaining that we get decisions against us on the pitch by the on-pitch referee,” Solskjaer added.

    `There’s a narrative there, but we have to focus on our games. We let other people talk about that. I don’t want to go too much into it because I might be in trouble.

    “I’m pretty relaxed on these and referees are going to be making objective decisions and are not going to be influenced by any emotion in any way.”

    Left-back Luke Shaw will miss the semi-final and his replacement Brandon Williams is also doubtful after suffering a facial injury against Southampton on Monday.

  • Solskjaer reveals who he contacted before signing Fernandes

    Solskjaer reveals who he contacted before signing Fernandes

    Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has lifted the lid on the steps taken to sign Bruno Fernandes in January from Sporting CP.

    Solskjaer has now spoken at length about the exhaustive process in scouting the Portuguese star, which involved a chat over the phone with Cristiano Ronaldo.

    He told the High Performance podcast: “So obviously Cristiano was an easy goal for me that I managed to get through.

    “Through Patrice Evra, I managed to get hold of Cristiano and his recommendation obviously stood him (Fernandes) in good stead.”

    The manager added: “It was off the field as well in training. And he demands off me. He demands off his team-mates. The first day he was in the club, he shook everyone’s hand. He doesn’t, he didn’t come in here thinking, ‘I’m the, I’m the big shot. I’m… you follow me’. No, he shook absolutely every staff members’ hand.

    “And, of course, this is a family – Man United – we’ve always been a family, and Sir Alex, the way he’s created this atmosphere in this dressing, in this training ground, I think it’s unique.”

    Crucially, Fernandes had the ability to earn respect quickly too.

    “He’s got the talent of course,” Solskjer continued. “That’s, you can see the quality is there. And we’ve seen that for a long time, but then again, he steps up when it matters.

    “And he does it when it matters. He’s delivered crosses, he’s delivered assists, he’s scored goals, he’s took penalties. He’s done everything in a short space of time that you’d expect…”

  • Solskjaer reveals the secret to unlocking Martial’s form

    Solskjaer reveals the secret to unlocking Martial’s form

    Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes Anthony Martial settling into the number nine role has prompted his good run of form which has seen the Manchester United forward reach 20 goals for the season.

    The Frenchman scored his first career hat-trick against Sheffield United last month and followed it up with a perfectly-struck strike against Bournemouth at the weekend, taking him to 15 Premier League goals this season.

    It is already Martial’s best goalscoring season and United still have five league games remaining, an FA Cup semi-final and the Europa League to continue. And Solskjaer explained the secret behind unlocking the attacker’s potential.

    “I think the team creating chances, Anthony working hard, being the number nine in a settled position, but also once in a while rotating with Marcus [Rashford] and switching positions,” Solskjaer said.

    “For his goal (against Bournemouth), he started off on the left and curled it into the top corner.”

  • EPL: Martial learning from Ighalo at Man Utd – Solskjaer

    Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Anthony Martial is learning from Odion Ighalo as he continues his development as a central striker.

    The Frenchman has often been played out wide in the early years of his career, but has now become United’s No.9.

    The 31-year-old Ighalo has played as a striker in Nigeria, Norway, Italy, Spain, England and China, and Solskjaer says he has been putting his experience to good use.

    “Odion is a seasoned No.9,” Solskjaer told Sky Sports.

    “He’s played that position his whole career whereas Anthony has played more out on the wing.

    “Odion is helping on the training pitch, in terms of his movement, hold-up play and just being himself. Anthony’s learning off an experienced centre-forward.”