By Daily Sports on October 30, 2021

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he is ready to “fight back” as manager of Manchester United.

The Norwegian has been left in a precarious position following the 5-0 defeat to Liverpool.

And while he said the intense speculation surrounding his future has made for a “difficult week,” he added that he is up for the challenge of turning things around – starting with the trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

“I’ve been through some very bad moments as a player here, and when I’ve been a manager I’ve dealt with setbacks,” Solskjaer told a news conference on Friday. “There have been two or three crises at least since I became manager here and one thing I can say is I’ll always give it a good shot and fight back.

“It’s been a difficult week, of course. We’ve had to deal with the result and performance against Liverpool which we know wasn’t good enough and that’s something that footballers have to deal with, that’s why we’re in this game. We’ve had a good week on the training field.”

Sources told ESPN earlier in the week that several key players had lost faith in Solskjaer even before the defeat to Liverpool and that he was allowed to continue in his position only due to internal reservation over appointing Antonio Conte as his successor.

Solskjaer appeared in a relatively relaxed mood while speaking to media on Friday. Asked how he was, he replied: “Good, why shouldn’t I be?”

With no Carabao Cup game, United have had a full week to prepare to face Spurs. The squad has been bolstered by the return of Raphael Varane and Solskjaer believes supporters will see a positive response at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday evening.

“We need a reaction and it's my job as well to put the players in the right frame of mind,” he added. “I'm responsible for the reaction, the result, the performance. We've worked on the pitch, worked on everything that needs to be sorted for a footballer.

“It’s not just frame of mind – it’s strategy, gameplan, tactics – we’ve had a good week and I feel the boys are ready to give their best. Nothing went to plan [against Liverpool] and that was nowhere near our best.”

Solskjaer’s managerial opponent on Saturday, Nuno Espirito Santo, is also under pressure after presiding over four defeats in his first nine Premier League games.

The only Spurs manager to lose more games at the same stage was Christian Gross (five) in 1997 and when asked how managers cope with speculation over their position, Nuno replied: “Me, myself I take my own routine. My focus is what I can control and what I can impact. It is on the players, the squad, the work that we do. 

“It is on the players when we are together, the hours we spend at the training ground, this is where we have to focus.

“If you focus on that, that will go to your home also because you keep thinking what you should do the next day. And then you can focus on what you have to think about, ignore the noise.

“There is no manager in the world that is not under pressure. It is part of our job.” (ESPN)

•PHOTO: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Source Daily Sports

Posted October 30, 2021

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