Manchester United’s caretaker manager Michael Carrick and club captain Harry Maguire have spoken in glowing terms about former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The pair were speaking at today’s pre-match press conference which was streamed on the club’s official website ahead of the trip to Villarreal.
Solskjaer was sacked by the club yesterday following the club’s 4-1 defeat to Watford on Saturday.
Carrick, who worked alongside Solskjaer throughout the Norwegian’s tenure, said: “First of all it’s been an emotional time for everyone at club. I’ve worked with Ole for three years and known him for a lot longer.
“Knowing the person that he is, the values that he has, how he treats people. To see him lose his job was tough for me and a lot of people at the club.
“I think you can tell from the emotion yesterday what he meant to everyone. Results are everything, as much as you can build the right environment, you don’t get what you deserve.”
Maguire, who was sent off at Vicarage Road just after Donny van de Beek got us back in the game, echoed Carrick’s praise of Solskjaer, but felt he and his team mates needed to ‘take responsibility’.
The 28-year-old said: “The players need to take responsibility. We are in this together. Ultimately the manager has paid the price, we are all so disappointed by that. We know we haven’t been good enough. We have spoken about that. The lads want to succeed.
“It has been a very hard time as players. The amount of respect we had for the boss. We’ve been on a journey together.
“For him to come in and talk to us yesterday it was tough. The result on Saturday wasn’t good enough but the results of recent have not been good enough.”
The former Leicester centre back felt it was important that he and his team mates worked hard to get Manchester United ‘back to where it was’.
United’s number five said that Solskjaer would remain a legend at the club and that he would be supporting the team from afar.
The world’s most expensive defender said: “The manager came in and spoke to us, it was an emotional day. He was a legend, he will remain one.
“He wished us well, he will be supporting us. He wants us to win every game of football.”
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