Now Solskjaer is working to fire up Sanchez
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER was enjoying retelling his Rio Ferdinand anecdote late on Friday night in a small room underneath The Emirates Stadium.
Having just recorded his eighth successive victory — a feat even ardent optimists might have considered unlikely six weeks ago — and negotiated his way into the fifth round of the FA Cup, he was reminded about Ferdinand’s firstever United training session after the England’s defender’s world record £30million move to Old Trafford back in 2002.
When Ferdinand mis-controlled the ball in the competitive warmup passing drill which was both an institution and an initiation at United, Solskjaer scoffed.
‘How much?’ he asked with disdain. Solskjaer smiled at the memory. ‘Yeah but 30 million!’ he said. ‘We paid 30 million! And that touch was not worthy of a 30 million player!’
The story underlined a couple of themes which resonate around this revived Manchester United team who take on Burnley in the Premier League on Tuesday.
The first, as Ferdinand himself pointed out, is that the image of ‘Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, baby-faced assassin, butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth’ is not the full picture of the man slowly building an irresistible case to be retained as Manchester United manager.
The other is a truth rooted in the Sir Alex Ferguson era, to which Solskjaer represents a link.
‘Everyone gets treated the same,’ said Solskjaer. ‘When you come in and you are looking around the dressing room and there are so many good players, you have to prove your worth. You don’t just live off the price tag. I am not interested in what they have cost or what they are earning. What I am interested in is what they can give the team. You only deserve to be in a team by how much you want to give to that team yourself. But he does really want to be part of it and he works really hard.’
He, of course, is Alexis Sanchez, scorer of the first goal against Arsenal in the cup win on Friday. It was a year ago yesterday that Sanchez made his United debut at this stage of the FA Cup at Yeovil. At the time, Arsenal were lamenting his leaving. Football Leaks last year revealed that his salary is £391,000 a week, with £75,000 paid as a bonus for every first-team game he starts. For that United have received five goals. At least they’re saving on his goal bonus.
Clearly second choice now, with Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard the favoured wide players, United can’t afford to give up on Sanchez just yet. And Solskjaer still expects him to make an impact at the club.
‘We hope so but criticism comes with the territory. When it comes to United you have to be a big personality. You have to be able to handle setbacks and doing well. Sometimes handling success is more difficult.
‘You try to sit him down and speak to him but he’s a really hard working, proud man and he is really determined to prove his worth. He has been fantastic since I came.’
The Friday night fever of a thrilling FA Cup win against familiar enemy Arsenal embodied some classic tropes of the Solskjaer regime. At 2-1 up, but seeing Arsenal forced to deploy Granit Xhaka at centre half, Solskjaer decided to go for the jugular and brought on his firstchoice strikers, Marcus Rashford and Martial. He was rewarded with the third goal by Martial.
‘That’s the way I’m brought up and that’s the way I’ve always been as a man, to be fair,’ said Solskjaer. ‘You always have to see every opportunity as it arises. I can never say never: if there’s a time we want to shut up shop, sometimes you have to shut up shop and you just defend. But if you want to defend you need a counter-attacking threat and we do have players who make a difference in that respect.’
Ander Herrera, another whose United career is flourishing again, tried to articulate the difference Solskjaer has made. ‘The thing he has done is that even when we are defending and going through difficult moments, we are allowed to attack,’ he said. ‘Luke Shaw is allowed to win the ball in the box and make a run even to the opponent’s box. That’s what Ole says from the first day.
‘Even in the toughest atmosphere, every Manchester United player should ask for the ball and should be able to cope. I am allowed to go into the box soon after I defend, even Nemanja Matic is allowed to shoot, Paul Pogba is the same of course.’
Pogba, the chief beneficiary of regime change, declared: ‘We enjoy scoring goals and we enjoy defending together. You can see that when we are playing free, with a smile and everyone is playing for each other, It’s always beautiful to win.’