CARDIFF V UNITED
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer has warned United players everyone has to be a ‘team player’ if the club are to improve their form.
Former United manager Jose Mourinho’s final year at the club was dominated by bickering with Paul Pogba and the Portuguese became so exasperated by the Frenchman’s supposed selfishness he criticised Pogba openly to another player.
Pogba has started two of the last six United matches and has not lined up in the Premier League since the 2-2 draw on December 1 at Southampton, when Mourinho’s caustic pre-match meeting proved to be the tipping point in his relationship with the United squad.
Solskjaer said his reputation as a ‘super sub’ will inform his management when it comes to dropping players from the starting XI and hopes his mentoring by Sir Alex Ferguson will help improve results.
“My job is to help the players, make them grasp the opportunity now,” Solskjaer said. “Because they all want to be part of Man United, I’m going to be here to help them, to help the team, down to man-management, I had the best manager as a player and coach to learn how to deal with people and how he dealt with people.
“And it’s about communication. Of course I’ll sit down and speak to the ones not playing, what I expect from them. When you’re at Man United, there are a set of demands and one of them is to be a team player and I don’t think anyone has been on the bench more than me! So that’s always my comeback to players: ‘You never know, you might come on and make an impact, that’s your chance, grab your opportunity when you get it.’”
When Solskjaer was asked how he would specifically handle Pogba through man-management, he added: “It’s about getting every player to the very best, it’s about speaking to them, on the training ground, getting your philosophy through, your principles, how we want to play. “No matter what team you’re coaching and what players you’re coaching, they all want to have a picture of how you want to play. They are quality players so it will be easier to get players expressing themselves. “You play with Man United, you play with courage, you go out there and express your skills. I’ve had the best, he said go out and express, take Ole Gunnar Solskjaer risks.
“The last game he had as a manager, the 5-5 game against West Brom, of course you don’t want to concede five goals, but that was almost the perfect end for him as a manager with the way he played football. And I want the players to be similar, be the kids that love to play football and go out in front of the best fans in the world – good players are easier to coach than bad players.”