UTD HAVE SOL BACK
JOHN O’SHEA always regarded Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as management material – and believes the Norwegian’s bench time at Man United has helped him forge real competition at Old Trafford now.
O’shea and
Solskjaer, inset, soldiered together in a golden age for Manchester United and the Waterford man watched how his colleague dealt with not being first choice due to the presence of Ruud van Nistelrooy and other top strikers.
“He would’ve been browned off at times,” said O’shea. “He would’ve been angry. But he dealt with it in a very professional way.
“He still played a lot of football but obviously the competition that he had at the time, you were looking at Sheringham, Cole, Yorke, van Nistelrooy.
“You’re talking the elite strikers in Europe and Ole was in the mix. To have that competition was obviously huge.
“He would’ve pushed those players, too. And that’s the thing that
I’m probably seeing from United for the last few months, the players seem to be pushing each other into proper performances and maintaining it and that’s the key to it.
“Ole has been able to drive that message behind the squad. I would’ve definitely seen him as a future manager, just how he went about training, preparing for games, all those little things – the details to get every little benefit and angle.”
O’shea feels Solskjaer’s personal experience is going into his man-management.
He said: “That’s where he has been able to show to the boys, ‘Look, you might not be starting at the minute, but if you’re not coming on and doing the business then you won’t be in the starting 11’.
“Rashford was his number one for a bit, but Lukaku was chomping at the bit and saying ‘Hang on, I’m number one here’.
“He’s been able to have the character to get the best out of the players even when he has been leaving them out – and that’s a key aspect of maintaining a really competitive squad. That’s been big.
“You’ve seen it in the results that he’s got. It’s not just that the players have gone, ‘Let’s go run around a bit faster, tackle harder for Ole just because he’s a nice lad’.
O’shea, who hopes to do his Pro Licence after what is likely to be his last season as a player, gives United a chance of overcoming their two-goal Champions League deficit at PSG tomorrow night – given the manner in which they bounced back from the only defeat they’ve suffered under their caretaker boss.
“It’s a hell of a task to go to PSG and turn that result around but Ole has been getting some great results and an early goal could really (make a difference),” he said.