Ole grateful he was shown a little patience
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer is grateful for the patience of United’s owners after riding out a storm in his first full season in charge at Old Trafford.
The Norwegian has been under pressure on a couple of occasions as performances and results dipped, especially in the early stages of this season, with United winning just two of their first eight Premier League games of the campaign.
They went into the October international break with just nine points from those eight games and were 12th in the Premier League table, only two points above the bottom three.
There were reports Solskjaer feared the sack if Liverpool ran riot at Old Trafford after the international break but an encouraging point ended that speculation and although the campaign hasn’t all been plain sailing since then, United have hit top gear recently.
They will attempt to make it 18 games unbeaten when Southampton visit Old Trafford tonight and all three points will take them into the top four.
Solskjaer is well aware he could have found himself out of a job before he turned a corner though, and is pleased to be able to repay that patience from the Glazer family and Ed Woodward now.
“We went through some difficult spells, especially around that time in October, and the club have been very good with us, they’ve kept in touch with us and have seen and known what we’re doing, and they’ve believed in what we’re doing,” he said.
“We were allowed to keep making the decisions without thinking about what could have been.
“They knew our ambition, what we want here, the environment we want here, which will then be the foundation for moving up the table.”
United have won their last four league fixtures a combined 14-2 and have become the first team to win four successive games by a three-goal margin in Premier League history.
Their spellbinding form also makes them favourites to beat Chelsea and reach the FA Cup next weekend – and they will expect to go deep in the Europa League when it resumes in August.
A top-four finish is also in United’s own hands now and it’s been quite a turnaround in the second half of the season. “While Solskjaer isn’t getting carried away he is seeing signs of progress in his side.
“We haven’t won any trophies. “But success going forward is to keep improving the team, keep developing, because it is not the destination that is the measure of success, really, it is what we do,” he said.
“With results, you can’t always say that life is fair, because it isn’t. “Sometimes you don’t get the result you deserve in football, but if we keep doing the right things, improving every single day, then we will end up hopefully as a successful Manchester United team.”
They knew our ambition, what we wanted here, the environment we want
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer