Guardiola: Solskjaer plans taking shape at United

LONDON: Pep Guardiola says Manchester United are starting to play the way Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants them to as he prepares for a blockbuster League Cup semi-final between the two sides.

City head to Old Trafford for the first leg of the last-four encounter on Tuesday, having won the competition for the past two seasons.

Guardiola’s side are third in the Premier League, 13 points ahead of fifth-placed United, but lost 2-1 to their rivals last month as Solskjaer’s men produced an exhilarating display of counterattacking football at the Etihad Stadium.

Asked what he had learned from that defeat, the Spaniard added: “How fast they are. How they run on the counter-attack. How solid, how aggressive.

“We conceded a few counterattacks and in just two or three seconds they were in the box.” Speaking about Solskjaer, he said: “I think he is starting to see his team like he wants. The last (league) game against Arsenal they lost, but you see clearly what he wants.

“It was not easy to handle a team at a big, big club, always demanding to be champions in all competitions, but I think every manager needs time.

“I have the feeling United have started to play the way he wants.”