OLE: WE HAVEN’T CRACKED IT YET!
United will not get carried away if they go top tonight
OLE GUNNAR Solskjaer is convinced Manchester United have the mentality to mount a title challenge, and won’t think they have ‘cracked it’ by going top of the Premier League at Burnley tonight.
If United win their game in hand at Turf Moor, they will leapfrog rivals Liverpool into first place ahead of Sunday’s top- of- thetable clash at Anfield.
Solskjaer is keen to manage expectations and believes his squad will not get carried away if United go top in January for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
The Norwegian was part of a fiercely competitive dressing room under Ferguson that was capable of meting out ‘inner justice’ to any player who stepped out of line, and sees similar milar traits in his team.
‘We have to go into to every game humble and nd not even think for one ne second we’ve cracked it if we’re near the top. . That’s not the type of f players we have,’ ’ he said.
‘If you think “we’ve made it now”, that is when it’s going to hit t you back.
‘ So we are very y focused. We have some e good characters in the e team, and the dressing g room is more vocal.
‘We’ve got Nemanja Matic, who has won it a few times, Juan Mata, Edinson Cavani, Bruno Fernandes coming in. He wants to feel part of a team that is going to be challenging for trophies. We have more players who can grab the situation.
‘I’ve played in a team with loads of characters and we looked after ourselves — inner justice. Because you don’t just let yourself down, you can let your team down. So you need leaders there to really grab hold of the ones who stray out of line from what we have agreed as a group.
‘There’s nothing stronger than being part of a team that keeps together. I’ve also seen teams that have cliques, that don’t work together — that’s the killer of a team. So it’s a big thing that the group push themselves. I’ve been lucky enough at Molde and here now to have a feeling that I can trust them more and more to look after themselves.
‘ The group’s mentality is getting better. We go into games with the right frame of mind.’
Solskjaer admitted it was hard looking at the table earlier this season when United were in its bottom half after starting a week later than other clubs, before losing at home to Crystal Palace, Tottenham and Arsenal.
‘With the results we got in the beginning, it made it more difficult for the players and easier for people to criticise us, looking at the table, maybe worrying a little bit,’ he said.
‘We had a difficult start against Palace and Tottenham and it made it harder for us to look at the table. Even if you don’t look at it, people are always talking about your position. Now it’s a different challenge. It’s Burnley away and we’re in this position.’
Paul Pogba, Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly — who hurt his neck in Saturday’s FA Cup win over Watford — all trained yesterday, although Pogba and Bailly were not involved in the whole session.