I asked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer about the idea of a technical director appointment at Manchester United.
He thinks it would be a good idea, pointing out that the job of being a manager has extended far beyond the scope it covered when his former boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, came south from Aberdeen in 1986.
He said: "Football has changed and the structure at football clubs has changed. Me, (executive vice-chairman) Ed (Woodward) and (co-chairman) Joel (Glazer) are looking to how can this club be ran as smoothly and as well as possible.
"A manager can't do as much as when the gaffer (Ferguson) started."
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on whether lessons can be learned from Man Utd's FA Cup defeat to Wolves: "Quite a few and of course we have to because if we turn up against a good team like they are, not at our level we'll get the result we deserve.
"Last time we didn't play well enough, enough tempo it was a difficult type of game, we had the ball 70% of the time but sometimes possession doesn't mean you're going to create chances and score goals."
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Solskjaer on the importance of having four players with ten league goals: "Very important, I’m surprised it’s so long ago I thought me Teddy, Yorke, Cole and I had ten.
"I think Teddy was the one who fell below but it’s a good thing to have more sources of goals, gives opponent a different challenge that they know goals will come from different angles and hopefully we’ll have a few more and new challenges."
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Ole Gunnar Solskajer reveals his thoughts on whether the Champions League is pivotal to summer recruitment.
"I’ve answered that question quite a few times, Manchester United and our history and traditions and our potential will always be interesting for players but the better you do, the better results you get and players will like to come," he said.
"Champions League next year would be fantastic. When we came in three months ago we were 11 points behind. Now we’re in that position, we’ve just got to go into next seven games with same attitude, let’s go for it see how it takes us.
"Let’s just keep carrying on, don’t change your approach on how to attack games, sometimes you get more of the ball, sometimes you have to defend well."
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On Paul Pogba: "I don’t like to talk about other teams players of course but this is another challenge with international breaks. Players are available all the time as well and it’s a different environment, a general talk.
"Paul is a very nice and polite man who then answered a general question on Zidane who is an icon in France, a fantastic manager, he used to be a fantastic player and he’s just politely answered that question but Paul’s happy here, he’s going to be a big, big part. You like to build your team round him and that hasn’t changed at all."
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On Martial and Lukaku: "Both will be ready for tomorrow, definitely, unless they break down in training today."
On the demands of the job: "I’m feeling older and older, 46 is a good number. I think the demands of football nowadays means you’ve got to split responsibilities."
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may have signed a three-year contract as Manchester United manager but the future of his assistant, Mike Phelan, remains unresolved.
There is a gap between tomorrow night's trip to Wolves and the Champions League quarter-final first-leg with Barcelona at Old Trafford on 10 April which would seem a good time to resolve any issues.
Phelan is still contracted to the Central Coast Mariners in Australia but Solskjaer wants him by his side at Old Trafford.
He said: "I am sure things will get sorted very soon."
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Ole press conference
posted on 1/4/19
Some interesting stuff in there - especially about DoF and the fact that they are all looking together how the club can be run better moving forwards. Hopefully a realisation that Ed isn't the man to deal with the football side of the club and should just stick to the commercial side.
Also glad to hear that they are working on keeping Phelan. I think that is a must for us.
posted on 1/4/19
Do you see Pogba's latest interview?
Question again on the possibility of a move to Madrid and said "who wouldn't want to work with a legend like Zizou, let's see what happens"
posted on 1/4/19
No, but I presumed his lips must have been flapping after seeing what Ole had said. I would just tell Real that he is going to cost £150m or feck off. Coutinho in to replace him, with Gomes as backup.
posted on 1/4/19
comment by San Miguel (U1449)
posted 19 minutes ago
Do you see Pogba's latest interview?
Question again on the possibility of a move to Madrid and said "who wouldn't want to work with a legend like Zizou, let's see what happens"
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Sounds like he wants more money.
He still has two years left on his contract and United have an option to extend by a year. I don’t think he wants to wait 2-3 years for a pay rise considering what Sanchez is on.
If he does want to go we’ll get plenty of money for him, so United are in the driving seat with this one.
posted on 1/4/19
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12096/11681177/mls-round-up-wayne-rooney-zlatan-ibrahimovic-score-stunners-in-wins
posted on 1/4/19
comment by Kung Fu Cantona 🙏🏼 🇵🇸 (U18082)
posted 55 minutes ago
comment by San Miguel (U1449)
posted 19 minutes ago
Do you see Pogba's latest interview?
Question again on the possibility of a move to Madrid and said "who wouldn't want to work with a legend like Zizou, let's see what happens"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sounds like he wants more money.
He still has two years left on his contract and United have an option to extend by a year. I don’t think he wants to wait 2-3 years for a pay rise considering what Sanchez is on.
If he does want to go we’ll get plenty of money for him, so United are in the driving seat with this one.
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We are in a pretty strong position with regards to selling him. My question is, if he does want to leave, are we better off getting shut now? Real need to rebuild and if they see Pogba as a key part of that rebuild, we should be able to get a big fee for him. Whilst Pogba has been much improved under Ole, he does still blow hot and cold. And eventually he is going to want that move to Real, even if it is a few more years down the line. Can't help but wonder if we would be better off getting as much as we can for him and replacing him with Coutinho. We should still see a profit from the moves, which could be put towards strengthening in other areas.
With Coutinho having tried and failed at Barcelona, you would think he would be more likely to see out the majority of his career at United in a league in which he is already proven.
I also wonder as to whether Coutinho might link our attacks better? Pogba does sometimes still slow down out attacks.
posted on 1/4/19
Would rather Pogba stayed but if we can get €125+ then let him go and bring in Couthiho, Neves and Sual.
posted on 1/4/19
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 1/4/19
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 2/4/19
Coutinho is incredibly talented but he has underwhelmed at more than one club. Can we be sure that he's a player inherently suited to playing in England or is it possible that he thrived under Klopp's system and man management?