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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s smiling public image does not always match the sore loser Manchester United players see behind closed doors.
Solskjaer brings his perfect record to Stamford Bridge on Sunday with United within five points of Chelsea in his run for the top four.
The Norwegian has silenced critics who compared him to a physical education teacher, but still believes outsiders underestimate his competitive nature.
General midfielder Bruno Fernandes has earned comparisons to Roy Keane by wearing his heart on his sleeve in a relentless desire to win and by expressing irritation and frustration on the pitch.
On the contrary, Solksjaer often maintains a placid poker face in front of the cameras, an image that, according to him, can be misleading.
“If you are at Manchester United and you enjoy losing, you are in the wrong place,” Solskjaer said.
“I don’t show my frustration maybe as much as Bruno, but I think maybe I’m the worst loser in the club. You probably haven’t seen it, but some of the players have. ”
Solskjaer doesn’t go out of his way to act tough, but there is an inner steel in him that is starting to show with United unbeaten away from home this season.
He even backs Thomas Tuchel’s right to eliminate substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi at Southampton last week, which saw the Chelsea manager accused of being heavy-handed.
“Managers live off the results and if they feel like something has to change, they change it,” Solskjaer said.
“You have to make some tough decisions because at the end of the day it all depends on the results that depend on the coach. It doesn’t really matter if it’s someone who has played 75 minutes or 30 minutes. ‘
After beating Maurizio Sarri and Frank Lampard on three previous visits to Chelsea, Solskjaer now faces Tuchel, whom he has faced four times in the Champions League.
United beat PSG in the knockout stages in 2019 and Solskjaer knows his rival can come as a surprise.
I don’t remember if Thomas played the same way twice against us with PSG! He is one of those coaches who knows his football and is prepared for every match and rivalry. We have to prepare for different scenarios. ‘
Solskjaer, who turned 48 on Friday, is already the 28th with the most service of the 92 in the league despite it being only his second full season.
United appear to be reverting to the tradition of being a manager-led club again after handing over David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho in relatively quick succession, something not unusual for Chelsea, who fired Lampard in january.
Solskjaer doesn’t consider himself fireproof, emphasizing that he didn’t want to compare his own situation to Chelsea’s way of handling things, but Ed Woodward and the board have given the Norwegian time to build. The panic button was not pressed when United failed to qualify for the final knockout stages of the Champions League.
“We had a very open and honest discussion when I came in and laid out my plans. The club made a decision and agreed with me some of the changes that we had to make.
“Of course I am not going to say that it will never happen that we change course, you need results and see improvements, and hopefully we have shown the club and the fans what we want as a squad of the team and of our players.
“I feel like my squad now is more full of younger players who can improve. I have a strong squad, a deep squad. I can’t say if there will be X amount of signings in the summer. We keep looking at the players and it has to be the right one.
“We look at the team in every window and we see what’s out there, we see what we feel we need.”
Edinson Cavani did not join training before Thursday’s Europa League draw against Real Sociedad due to a muscular complaint that made the Uruguayan unable to start at Stamford Bridge and Solskjaer said: ‘He is one of those who wants to train very hard before playing. ‘ ‘
Paul Pogba last appeared three weeks ago due to a thigh problem and will not be back until next weekend’s Manchester derby at the earliest. It is more likely to start next month after the international break.
He leaves Anthony Martial with another shot despite not scoring in 13 of his last 14 games.
The Frenchman has received abuse, racial and otherwise, but the United manager says the player does not read it.
“I’m 100% sure that Anto doesn’t look through social media at what people are saying about him,” Solskjaer said.
‘I’ve had conversations with him about the latest abuse he received, racial abuse, and I hadn’t seen it because he only focuses on himself, he works hard.
“He knows he’s going through a difficult time, but he knows he will get over it because he has the quality to do it.”
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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