SP ND Old Pally’s act is booster for Bruce SP ND SP ND
Ole reckons he’ll be splashing cash
GARY PALLISTER admits the knives are out for old pal Steve Bruce but has told the Newcastle chief’s critics: “Write him off at your peril!”
Under-fire Bruce (below) takes relegation-threatened Magpies to Manchester United tonight aiming for a shock victory to boost their fight against the drop.
The Toon lie just one place above the relegation places and Bruce has faced heavy criticism over his side’s style of play.
Yet his former
Red Devils central defensive partner Pallister, 55 (right) said: “I cringe when I see some of the flak Brucey has received.
“The club is looking to be sold and Newcastle don’t splash out riches that other clubs do in the Premier League, so it’s a difficult job for Steve.
“I just think people need a bit more appreciation of what he’s trying to do.
“He’s got his head down, has not listened to the detractors and is trying to make sure that Newcastle
are still in the Premier
League when they are finally sold. Brucey’s a resilient guy, so he’ll take the knocks and roll with it.”
Newcastle’s 1-0 home win over United last October was Bruce’s first-ever Premier League victory against them as a manager after 21 previous attempts.
Looking ahead to tonight’s clash, Pallister added: “Man United are obviously expected to win, but recently slipped up against Sheffield United and West Brom so I’m sure that will give Brucey and his lads some hope.
“In Callum Wilson, Newcastle have a terrific player and Allan Saint-Maximin can light the place up with his quality.”
Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has also come under scrutiny at times and Pallister said of his former team-mate: “I think Ole, at this moment in time, is on the right track and has restored a belief to the fans that United are getting better.”
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER insists he has the backing of Manchester United’s owners to bring stellar targets like Erling Haaland to Old Trafford.
United failed in a bid to sign Haaland a year ago when the brilliant Norwegian striker decided to join Borussia Dortmund from Molde due to doubts about Solskjaer’s future in Manchester.
When the Reds then refused to pay £120million for Haaland’s Dortmund team-mate Jadon Sancho in the summer, the Florida-based Glazer family were hammered for running the club on the cheap.
But Solskjaer (below) is buoyant about his chances of landing a contract extension.
And he also feels that after a top-four finish last season, United will be in pole position to land the kind of world-class talent the fans crave if he can once again qualify for the Champions League.
He said: “We’ve got a plan to become a very successful Man
United team – and a team that top players want to play for.
“It’s down to us to keep improving and getting closer to the trophies. I can’t say anything about individuals. But we’ve got the backing.
“The owners keep backing the club and myself and hopefully we can improve the team.
“We are getting better, but we need to do better than last year when we got to three semi-finals. The next stage is to get into finals and establish ourselves again as challengers in the league.”
Solskjaer has brought stability to a job that saw
United sack David
Moyes,
Louis van
Gaal and
Jose Mourinho within five years of Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement.
He will have just one year left on his contract in the summer – but the Old Trafford boss, 47, has no doubts that executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward will give him the time and resources to finish the job.
Solskjaer said: “I talk to Ed all the time and I know we will keep on discussing the progress of the team.
“I’ve still got time left on my contract and my job is to keep doing my best for the club.”
Dortmund will cash in on either Haaland or Sancho in the summer after taking a financial hit during the pandemic. With
United’s interest in Sancho now cooling after paying Atalanta £37m for teenager Amad Diallo last month, they are likely to once again target Haaland.
It would make sense for Dortmund to sell after it was revealed that a clause in the striker’s contract limiting any fee at £65m will be triggered in 2022.
Today, Solskjaer will turn his attention to matters on the pitch when United face Newcastle at Old Trafford looking to consolidate their position behind leaders Manchester City after thumping Real Sociedad in Turin on Thursday night in the Europa League.
Edinson Cavani is likely to return to lead Solskjaer’s attack.
And the United boss has been so delighted with the Uruguayan since his arrival for free in the summer that only the Manchester weather could prevent the frontman, 34
(left) from signing a contract extension.
Solskjaer said: “I will sit down with
Edinson at the end of the season, but so far, so good. I just hope the weather will improve for him! I haven’t been surprised by Edinson – just impressed.”
MIKEL ARTETA insists Manchester City’s blueprint to conquer all is not one for Arsenal to follow.
The Gunners host the Premier League leaders today aiming to become the first team to beat them since early November.
But while Arteta has already masterminded two wins as Emirates boss over his one-time mentor Pep Guardiola, his side are still miles off replicating City’s success under their superstar coach.
And Arteta (right) accepts that attempting to take the same path as his fellow Spaniard at City would be pointless.
There are many elements in the Guardiola manual that he is using but when the Catalan arrived at The Etihad, City had been champions twice in the previous four years while Arteta inherited a struggling team from Unai Emery 14 months ago.
Arteta said: “You cannot compare his situation to our situation at the moment. They are very, very different.
“You can share some values, some ideas, and the way we were raised and educated in football is very similar.
“The fact we worked together united us a lot – to get that chemistry and those ideas together. How do you make it work? You need some time, sometimes you need a lot of investment.
“You have to keep evolving and finding a way because there is not one formula that works. You cannot try to follow Pep and City because you will fail.”
Arteta hopes to sign Real Madrid’s on-loan Norwegian midfielder Martin Odegaard, 22, on a permanent basis.
He added: “Martin is a young leader. On the pitch he is showing a lot of character and intelligence. He’s adapted very quickly. He’s getting more and more respect and his impact will increase with every week.”
Arteta said Arsenal have a psychologist on hand to assist their players being racially abused online.
Willian, Eddie Nketiah and Granit Xhaka have all been targeted recently.
Arteta, who has spoken of how his family received death threats online earlier this season, said: “We have a sports psychologist and other people to support our players.
“The important thing that’s happening now is a strong reaction. Finally we are seeing some unity from a lot of people from different backgrounds and different industries.
“They are starting to find some points in common to try to find the right solution.”
LOUIS VAN GAAL believes this season has seen the impressive unveiling of Pep Guardiola 2.0.
The Dutchman, who was Guardiola’s coach at Barcelona, reckons the Manchester City boss is so obsessed with winning the Champions League for the first time since leaving the Nou Camp almost a decade ago that he has ditched his all-out attacking philosophy in favour of a more pragmatic approach.
Despite lifting the competition twice as manager of his hometown club, Guardiola has not progressed beyond the semi-finals in eight years with Bayern Munich and City.
Van Gaal feels it’s the only trophy that now matters to the Spaniard – to the extent that he has built one of football’s most formidable defences.
And Van Gaal, who won the European crown with Ajax during a glittering coaching career that also included spells at Manchester United and Bayern, said: “Pep sees winning the Champions League as his big target, his big trophy at City.
“He has won it with Barcelona twice but he wants to prove he can do it with another team. And let’s not forget, City as a club are desperate to also win the Champions League.
“One thing that is really helping Pep and why I can see him having a good chance is that he has re-evaluated his principles of attacking football.
“He has let go of his dogmatic principle of always playing attacking football.”
City have never gone beyond the last four in Europe’s elite competition and Guardiola’s four attempts as their boss have all ended in bitter failure.
Last summer, even his leading midfielder
Kevin De Bruyne criticised his tactics as
City were dumped out in the quarterfinals by big underdogs Lyon after a tame 3-1 surrender in Lisbon.
City spent £63million in the summer to bring in Ruben Dias from Benfica and the Portuguese’s arrival has led to a renaissance for John Stones, who is now widely expected to earn an England recall after a huge dip in form in the last two seasons.
With Joao Cancelo also impressing, City have conceded just 15 goals in 24 Premier League games this term and are storming towards the title.
They also leaked just one goal in six Champions League group games to set up a last-16 clash against Borussia Monchengladbach.
The first leg takes place in Budapest on Wednesday night.
Van Gaal added: “Pep is no longer pushing both his full-backs up so high because he saw how that caused his centre-backs problems.
“They had too much space to cover and were beaten in the counter-attack. “Even the best central defenders cannot cope with just the two of them when opponents break on the counter-attack. “Pep now only lets one full-back go. The other one drifts in midfield or covers for the central defenders. This is Pep’s new trick! “He also scouts his players for his own system much more than others but it really looks like Pep has decided to change things in his football vision and style. “I discussed this in my latest book – and I know he went mad when he read about his dogmatic attacking. “But he may have done something with my advice after all!”