At Manchester United, you can’t just win, you have to win with panache and entertainment value. At least that was the standard set under Sir Alex Ferguson and his glorious regime- an attacking style of football that was a joy to watch. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer aims to bring that back, and he even went so far as to say that style points matter more than results at this point.
Now before you get taken aback by that idea, read his full quote and consider his line of reasoning.
“To get to summer and people are talking about the way Manchester United are playing,” Solskjaer responded when asked about what his ambitions are for his time as caretaker manager.
“It has to start with the way we play because results you cannot control. You can control how you approach the game and how you play. And of course trophies, if you can get to the final of the FA Cup and get a trophy.”
Solskjaer has made it clear on at least two occasions that he wants to stay on as permanent manager beyond once his time is up at the end of the season. If the team keeps scoring, and winning like they have thus far, he may get his chance. United have scored 14 goals in the four games, all wins that Solskjaer has been in charge.
The man who was known as “the baby-faced assassin” during his playing days harkened back to his time on the pitch as a high-flying forward under Ferguson during his news conference on Friday.
“Pace and power, that’s what we are,” he said. “When you have players like we have with pace — Paul [Pogba], Anthony [Martial], Alexis [Sanchez], Romelu [Lukaku], [Marcus] Rashford — that’s how we played with Andy [Cole], [Dwight] Yorkey, [Ryan] Giggsy and [David] Becks down the sides.
“We attack quickly when you can. That’s my philosophy as well. Attack quickly. It’s down to the gaffer [Ferguson].”
It’s still quite early in the Solskjaer tenure, but what we’ve seen so far is extremely promising. The team is playing in a way that is the polar opposite of the dull, pragmatic tedium we saw under Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal.
Reading at United FYIs
United Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Kick-off: 1230 pm (BST), Saturday January 5, Old Trafford
Odds: United win- 1/8, draw- 7/1, Reading win- 14/1
Prediction: United 3, Reading 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.