Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits proudest Manchester United achievement amid ‘best of all time’ claim

Add as preferred source on Google

History will probably reflect pretty kindly on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s record as the manager of Manchester United.

Three years on from his tear-stained departure, is it high-time to proclaim the beloved Norwegian as Manchester United’s finest head coach in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era?

Yes, he might have fallen short in pursuit of silverware. Failing where Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal and Erik ten Hag [twice] succeeded. But, on the other hand, nobody claim closer to re-establishing Man United as genuine Premier League title challengers.

Who knows where United would have gone had the Red Devils bosses brought in Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Moises Caicedo and Kieran Trippier, rather than say Cristiano Ronaldo, Alex Telles and Donny van de Beek?

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also presided over a United side who, on their day, played arguably the most exciting football of the last ten years; Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood even outscored Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino in one campaign.

And then there is his record again a man Ole himself describes as ‘probably the best manager of all time’.

In three Premier League meetings, United triumphed over Pep Guardiola’s City on three occasions. Solskjaer, remarkably, also won every single one of his three trips to the Etihad Stadium.

Not bad for a so-called ‘PE teacher’.

• READ MORE: Manchester United manager history, trophies won, win percentage

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Manchester United’s City success his proudest achievement

“Couldn’t we have played away against City more often, then?” Solskjaer laughs, via NRK. “I enjoyed those matches. They were fantastic matches.

“There is one thing I am proud of, the statistics against probably the world’s best manager of all time.”

Guardiola himself admitted back at the start of 2020 that Man United, under Solskjaer, had developed a team with ‘incredible pace and talent’. The speed of Rashford, Martial and perennially Dan James caused Man City no end of problems during those derby meetings in the Norwegian’s era.

Speaking back in May during a rare interview, meanwhile, Solskjaer opened up on why his much-maligned Man United side managed to succeed where so many other teams failed up against Guardiola’s star-studded sky blues.

And why the return of a certain prodigal son back in 2021 spelled the end of such an approach.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Man United return was ‘the wrong choice’

“There were players whose main strength was counter-attacking, running and digging in,” Solskjaer would explain.

“In previous years, you had players like [Andreas] Pereira, James and [Jesse] Lingard that could run all day. And it’s easy to set up a team and beat City away from home.”

“We were one of the highest pressing teams before [Cristiano Ronaldo’s return]. We let Dan James go when Cristiano came in, and they’re two different types of players.”

Solskjaer now accepts that bringing Ronaldo back to Old Trafford in his mid-30s – when United had created a high-pressing, free-flowing attack capable of outrunning and outscoring the opposition – was probably an error in judgement.

Then-assistant coach Kieran McKenna was allegedly against Ronaldo’s comeback from the get-go, with United guilty of listening to their heart rather than their head.

“It was probably a wrong choice for all of us,” Solskjaer admits. “But we felt it was the right decision then and there [at the time].”