Following Manchester United’s 5-1 win over Cardiff, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has reflected on the improved work rate of the players. Statistics reveal that United outran the Welsh team by 5km. It was only the second occasion this season when the players have run further than their opponents.
Solskjaer praised the dressing room for responding well and for helping him settle back in quickly.
The easiest thing in the world to work on is your work-rate, because it’s free. It’s just attitude and the application of the boys. Because of the occasion they did maybe make a run or two more than normal, but when you’ve got players like Jesse, Rash up top, they do run a lot!
It’s a great dressing room. Footballers want to give the best for the club. They’ve got the Manchester United badge on their shirts and there’s a reason for that, because they’re quality players and that’s why they’re at the club. When you come in and you meet new people, you’re excited yourself and, to be fair, last night was the best night I’ve had sleeping-wise because suddenly I felt that I can settle down. They’ve really helped, and Kieran and Michael have been fantastic in the dressing room as well.
United’s next game is against Huddersfield on Boxing Day and Solskjaer can’t wait to lead the team out in front of the Old Trafford crowd.
We take one game at a time now. We’ve caught up eight, nine points before from teams and you’ve got to go one game at a time. We’ve got Huddersfield [on] Boxing Day.
You can’t do anything else than focus on the next training session and work on a few bits because there’s still work to be done. Me and Mick have come in with some ideas and we just want to keep plugging away, little by little.
When I played at Old Trafford, you felt at home. You walked out onto that pitch and even though in the 90th minute you haven’t scored, you still think ‘We can win this’. This doesn’t happen every game. It just doesn’t happen that you score in the first three minutes and you score five goals. So days will come when we hit the post instead of the inside, so it’s just that patience and never-give-up attitude that teams fear at Old Trafford.
If you have the honour of walking out leading a Man United team out at Old Trafford, you’ve got to look forward to that.
