Solskjær press conference vs Chelsea (N)

[Samid]

On possible Manchester derby in the final
"I'm just focusing on this one now against Chelsea but we'd love to get to a final. To walk out at Wembley for a final is one of the best and the biggest honours you can have as a player. I remember myself walking onto the old Wembley in '99. That was a fantastic experience for me."

 

[Samid]

On Jose using the term 'lucky' about United
"First of all, with the lucky one, I'd rather be lucky than good! That's a good expression. But I think we've earned our right to any decision this season because it looks like there's an agenda there to try to influence the... I don't want to go into it too much but, when you're offside, you're offside. That's a fact. We've had a few decisions overturned from being against us to being for us, which means the initial decision was against us, which, we think, is... well, it's up to the referee but there are too many people talking and trying to influence people and I don't want to try to influence people at all. You earn your own luck and I can talk about the red cards that Southampton and West Ham should have had against us in games where we've lost points. We've seen the referees' reports afterwards and they've apologised for making wrong decisions against us. So it's just one of those things. VAR is there to help football have more and more correct decisions and I've always said factual decisions are just a fact. So if you're one centimetre or one metre offside, you're offside unfortunately, that's just how it is in football now."

 

[Samid]

On Frank Lampard's comments on referees
"Hundred per cent I'll defend my players. They're not divers, none of them try to con the referee at all. And if you've got quick feet like Dan James, Rashford, Martial and Greenwood, you'll get tackled, outside the box and inside the box. Some ankles could have been broken by other players this season, on our players, so I just want them to be protected."

 

[Samid]

On Romero
"I'm not going to pick the team just yet. I just got the question before [on the previous video call] on the team selection. There are a couple of decisions I have to make and Sergio has done really well every time he's played for us so he's got a chance to be involved."

 

[Samid]

On rival managers trying to influence referees
"I trust our referees not to be influenced and I also believe that me moaning about referees will not do us any favours because I think the standard of our refereeing is great. They're at a high level so we just need to keep playing the football we do and let the referees keep doing the refereeing."

 

[Samid]

On the Mason incident and not going "over the top" in his complaining
"I'd rather go and ask [the referee] in a friendly manner. It was the same when Mark Noble should have been sent off, half a yard in front of me against West Ham earlier on in the season when he absolutely clattered Aaron Wan-Bissaka. I've always believed in allowing them to make the decisions. I'm not going to be able to influence them by moaning and crying about them. There's no point crying about a decision against you."

 

[Samid]

On playing Chelsea for the FA Cup win in 99
"I remember more the replay against Arsenal to be fair, in the semis at Villa Park. I can't really remember how they went, those games. Did we win 5-3 or something?"

"We've had some great games against Chelsea over the years and I think this is the fourth year running that we've played Chelsea in the FA Cup so hopefully it'll be an exciting game."

 

[Bondi77]

It is good that Ole is starting to find his voice (grown a set of b###s) when it comes to pressers.
I prefer less of the smiling and more of the assassinations when it comes to his rivals.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Part of me thinking he's feeling the pressure so start opening up with this sharp words that aimed intentionally or not at rival managers.

Not the first time he has done this. Remember his remarks about City basically playing dirty-er football with those tactical fouls, the way he said it is nicer but sure made Pep into defensive mode. It was great. I remember there were pressure by media to us to perform for that game.

Prefer this Ole than the fake nice persona, but having both is really unique. This Ole is situational. We know he has it in him.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

"I'd rather go and ask [the referee] in a friendly manner. It was the same when Mark Noble should have been sent off, half a yard in front of me against West Ham earlier on in the season when he absolutely clattered Aaron Wan-Bissaka. I've always believed in allowing them to make the decisions. I'm not going to be able to influence them by moaning and crying about them. There's no point crying about a decision against you."

Shots fired!

 

[wolvored]

Some people aren't gonna like this.

What else can he say though? He hs to praise him up in front of the media. I still think he will be one that will be sold this year.

 

[tenpoless]

Of course Ole still talks about Lingard being a good option. His output is shocking, if Ole throws him under the bus, his value will drop even further.

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

Does Solskjaer coach strikers himself?
“I do more with strikers than defenders, that’s true. i think i have got more expertise in that part of it, so yeah I like to join in and watch them and give them pointers and tips. We look at goalkeepers, how they stand, we do a lot of work but it is the effort from the boys. The calmness is the main thing.”

Like that Rashford calmness for his last one.....one of his best easily because it all slowed down.

 

[Devil may care]

Jesse Lingard has key role to play
“Jesse’s a part of the club and has worked really hard and deserves his chance to come back in, we know his qualities, we know he has got different qualities to other players and he knows we value him.”

Yes, we value him at around 20M for any interested punters.

Key to Rashford and Martial partnership?
“We work on it, we work on patterns but they’ve been together at the club for so long, there was a spell where they were challenging for the same position but now they play together and starting to click, they know each other’s company, strengths, weaknesses if there are any, delighted with their performances.”

Good to hear Ole talking about working on attacking patterns, one of the biggest issues in recent years has been a lack of clear attacking cohesion and drilled movement.

Solskjaer reacts to claims United are lucky with VAR decisions
“How long have we got? I can sit here for hours now and try to talk about this. It looks like there’s a narrative, it looks like people want to influence whoever is making the decisions. I hear people talking about luck, that we’ve been lucky more than unlucky.

“If you look at the factual decisions - I don’t want to sound like a certain manager talking about facts - but if you’re offside you’re offside, that’s clear.

“Talking about lucky; the penalty we got against Tottenham in the last minute that was taken away from us; that might be two points for us. Talking about the red card [Oriol] Romeu should have had against us when he almost got Mason Greenwood crippled, that should’ve been a red card, maybe that would’ve helped us.

“Talking about Mark Noble when he should have been sent off against us when we lost at West Ham. Talking about the actual decision that is made that is against Man United but is overturned and corrected. So it’s actually me that should be complaining that we get decisions against us on the pitch by the on-pitch referee. “

There’s a narrative there but we have to focus on our games, we let other people talk about that. I don’t wanna go too much into it because I might be in trouble! I hope I’m not now!

“I’m pretty relaxed on these and refs are gonna be making objective decisions and are not gonna be influenced by any emotion in any way, so I don’t think they’ll read [what Lampard said].”

This is like the managerial version of a good rap diss track, Ole checking off all the clowns and throwing in facts ignored by the media wankers, well played Ole!

 

[ThinkTank@Cafe]

Fachts from Ole. Unexpected...His policy of not involving himself into off pitch noises was a better approach

 

[harms]

If you look at the factual decisions - I don’t want to sound like a certain manager talking about facts