Master and the Apprentice
SOLSKJAER WILL TAKE RASHFORD UNDER HIS WING
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER believes Marcus Rashford has more natural talent than he possessed when he was becoming a Manchester United legend.
Now, the new United boss wants to teach the England striker how to become a fox in the box after he struggled for goals under Jose Mourinho.
Solskjaer is ready to give 21-year-old Rashford a touch of Norwegian nous.
And he will also throw in a bit of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez.
Solskjaer said: “I think Marcus has got his own motivation to become the best player he can be.
“He has got far more than I did, in terms of his physical attributes, his pace, his strength and striking the ball from outside the box.
“But maybe I can give him a little bit of the nous that I had inside the box.
“I’m talking about the little moves you make to get free, that little bit of calmness in front of goal.
“Marcus is only 21, he’s still learning. The most important thing I can see is to just settle him down in front of goal.
“I’ve seen him rush a few finishes. He thinks, ‘I’ve got to get a shot off early’, when sometimes you just need to pass it past the keeper.
“I always say that the goal never moves. So I am really looking forward to working with him.”
Mourinho declared that finishers are born rather than made, when he was asked how he could improve Rashford’s goals output, before being sacked as United boss.
But Solskjaer disagrees.
United face Bournemouth at Old Trafford after Solskjaer’s first two games in charge brought a 5-1 victory at Cardiff and a 3-1 home win over Huddersfield.
Solskjaer explained how he made himself a better striker – and how his time working as a striker coach under Sir Alex Ferguson taught him even more.
Solskjaer said: “I wasn’t born with it. I studied finishing, I studied goals, I studied movement.
“I worked on my mentality because that’s key. You will always miss chances, but you can’t do anything about them once they’ve gone.
“It’s always about the next chance. You have got to be one step ahead as a striker, to create that space you need.
“Apart from the ball, when you’re a striker, it is space that’s your best friend. You need space. My first job here after I finished playing was as a forwards coach.
“So I worked with Cristiano, Wayne, Danny Welbeck and Tevez was here. That was a good start for me!
“But my strength was putting the ball in the net and I am sure I can give these boys a little bit of detail with scoring goals.
“But, in terms of talent and physical attributes, the strikers here have got loads more than I had.”
Solskjaer recalled how he worked with a sports psychologist to improve his mentality at the age of 27.
He added: “I’ve got a diary from when I worked with Bill Beswick.
“He made me aware of how important it is to work on your confidence and the diary is about what I was thinking and how I reacted to different situations in games.
“It starts with me writing, ‘ I’ve had enough of bad performances and bad confidence’ – and that was when I was 27.
“All the strikers here – apart from Alexis – are a lot younger than 27, so we can work on the mental side. I want to get into all their heads. I want to learn what they are thinking.
“The only thing they can control is what’s going on in their heads and how to approach different situations mentally.
“Throughout my life, ever since I played for Clausenengen back home, instead of listening to the teacher at school I was writing down all the chances I missed in a book thinking, ‘I should have done this’.
“Scoring goals was all I thought about.”