Caretaker tip Ole going back to basics

BY DAVID McDONNELL very best out of players – like Paul Pogba – who have underperformed this season.

Earlier this season Solskjaer was asked his view of Pogba. become complacent and always keep the standards up. Everything I know about managing top footballers I learned from him.”

Reflecting on what made playing for United under Fergie so special, Solskjaer said: “Before every game he would say, ‘Express yourselves, enjoy the game, show us what you can do but work your bollocks off.’

“That’s the Manchester United I want to see again, where players move freely and get in behind. At United we came to Carrington and worked our bollocks off but we never felt like we went to work.

“If I manage again in a different country, my team is going to be solid but I can never stray from the way I want my teams to play football – with creativity and imagination, just as I learned under Sir Alex.

“Is United still the dream job for me? Every Manchester United player who goes into management has that ultimate dream.”

After a stellar career at United that saw him plunder 126 goals in 366 appearances, Solskjaer was forced to retire in 2007 at the age of 34 after failing to recover from a persistent knee injury.

He spent two years coaching United’s reserves before taking his first full-time managerial role with Molde in his native Norway where his success led to an approach from Aston Villa, which Solskjaer eventually declined.

But the lure of the Premier League proved too hard to resist and Solskjaer took charge of Cardiff in January 2014, although he lasted just nine months, relegation and a poor start to the following season in the Championship earning him the sack.

After such a chastening and high-profile failure Solskjaer returned to Molde where he has continued to thrive without being able to add to the two league titles he won in his first spell there.

Although he only signed a new three-year contract earlier this month the lure of managing United – albeit on a short-term basis – is likely to be too strong for Solskjaer to turn down.

And with the post only until the end of the season, when United will appoint a permanent manager, Solskajer finds himself in a no-lose situation back at his spiritual home.