Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BIG SAM MEDALS COUNT FOR NOTHING
Fernandes (13) Blundering De Gea is warned past glories won’t save him
WEST BROM
Last five in PL: LLDLL Top PL scorer: Pereira (5) MANCHESTER UNITED Last five in PL:
Top PL scorer:
WLDWD
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER has warned David De Gea that his medals count for nothing in his battle with Dean Henderson to be Manchester United’s No 1. At £350,000 a week, De Gea is United’s highest-paid player and the only regular in Solskjaer’s team who has won the Premier League.
But he blundered big-time last week as Everton fought back to force a 3-3 draw. Henderson came in to keep a clean sheet in the FA Cup win over West Ham on Tuesday night – and the 23-year-old is now cranking up the pressure on the goalkeeper who has been a United mainstay for the last decade.
Solskjaer’s blunt message to the Spaniard ahead of today’s visit to West Brom makes it clear that the past counts for nothing as he plots a better future.
Solskjaer said: “It’s not about who has got the most trophies.
“I’m in a very fortunate position to have the goalkeeper department that I have – and it was a conscious decision to bring Dean back to have real competition.
“Of course, Dean has made it harder and harder for me to leave him out because whenever he plays he does really well.
“It’s about what you give to the team, here and now – whether you’re a left-back, right-back, on the left wing or right wing.
“I think the whole squad knows they have to perform to be in the team.
“We have, I would say, at least two players in every position who would feel, ‘I am a first
choice’. The keeper position is no different to the right-back, left-back or centreforward position.
“It’s about your performances and what you give to the team.”
United rewarded Henderson with a new £100,000-aweek contract when he returned from a season-long loan at Sheffield
United in the summer. He has kept five clean sheets in his 12 United appearances, but has not played a Premier League game for two months.
De Gea’s mistakes against Everton at Old Trafford cost United the chance to reel in leaders Manchester City. And Solskjaer said: “It’s not my job to keep any players ‘happy’. It’s not like I’m going round telling them jokes and giving them games just to keep them happy.
“Of course, we know here that we are in a competitive environment.
“We’re at Manchester United, we’re here to win – and it’s about having the best possible chance to win and you need performances.
“It’s more their job to keep me happy and give me more and more reasons to pick them. That’s the way it is.”
Solskjaer recently demanded that his players become more ruthless – and it seems he is now leading by example.
The United boss admits his tough love has more than a hint of Sir Alex Ferguson (left) – but he insists it is a role he has grown into without any interference from his former manager.
Solskjaer said: “I have probably been influenced by the gaffer by the 15 years I worked with him, but we’re different personalities.
“I manage the way I think is the right way. I don’t ask anyone how I should manage. It’s probably just in my personality.
“I loved working under Sir Alex and I learned a lot from him obviously.
“But it’s been a while since I had a conversation with him.
“And I’ve not asked him how I should play this one or that one out.
“It’s been a gradual thing since I came to Manchester United. I have grown into becoming this person.
“It’s not been a conscious thing. It’s just being myself.”