PEP: IT’S OLE OR NOTHING
City boss backing his United rival
Pep Guardiola has backed the job rival boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is doing at Manchester United.
The Manchester City gaffer reckons Old Trafford’s owners are right to stick with the Norwegian and give him the time to return United back to football’s top table.
Some supporters have urged the board to ditch Solskjaer and turn to the likes of former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino and ex- Juventus chief Max Allegri who are both available as the Reds go through a period of transition.
But as Guardiola takes his City stars to Old Trafford for the fourth meeting of the season between the Manchester rivals, the Catalan is convinced United’s decision to support Solskjaer is correct – and will deliver results.
“I am not there, I am not part of United but what I feel is that people at the club bel ieve in Ole and I think he is doing a really good job,” said Guardiola.
“Always I believe that managers and clubs need time to implant, to build something that the manager and club both believe in.
“Unfortunately sometimes the results mean clubs take the decision t o bre a k that process.
“It is not always about the tactics sometimes, it is about the feel, how the players follow the manager.
“I appreciate the quality of their manager a lot, I think he represents United in an exceptional way.
“And in the good moments, Ole arrives with an incredible impact in terms of results then afterwards maybe they drop a little bit.
“But on both sides of the club they are stable. From what I read the comments are stable from the board and Ole’s behaviour here in the press conferences was always quite similar. Now the results are getting back. “United are scoring a lot of ggoals, they create c chances, they cconcede few, and eespecially they have ggood keepers, good ddefenders, a bigger ssquad.
“So with United tthere is no doubt aabout it, all the time, eevery season, they hhave good teams.”
Solskjaer, mmea nwh i le , is ddesperate to end a ddecade of derby miserym at home and start closing the gap with City.
It has been 10 years since United last did a Premier League
double over their rivals – and Solskjaer reckons that’s way to long. He believes a win for United could be the start of closing the recent chasm.
Solskjaer said: “That stat is not nice to hear. And it’s one of our challenges to close this gap, win our individual battles and win more games against them.
“Of course, every game against City is massive.
“But we’ve shown we can compete with them on a given day. And with what we are doing to the squad, bui lding it, I think we will get that consistency.
“That wi l l help us challenge for trophies as well as closing the gap in the league table as well.”
Ole is doing a really good job. Managers and clubs need time to implant and build