Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Ole talks Mengi and Martial after LASK win

Wednesday 05 August 2020 23:08

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in a positive mood following Manchester United's 2-1 win over LASK in the second leg of our last-16 Europa League tie – a result which secures the Reds' place in the last eight of the competition.

United, who led by a whopping five goals after the first leg in Linz, went behind to a stunning strike from LASK defender Philipp Wiesinger early in the second half, but responded decisively via goals from Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial.

That means we'll now travel to Cologne to battle FC Copenhagen on Monday, for a place in the semi-finals.

The manager spoke to both BT Sport and club media after the final whistle at Old Trafford, and discussed a first senior appearance for promising young defender Teden Mengi and also revealed what he said to match-winner Anthony Martial before sending on the striker in the final stages.

Read below for the boss's post-match comments...
Solskjaer: Martial begged to come on! Video

Solskjaer: Martial begged to come on!

Ole was in buoyant mood as our no.9's late goal put the gloss on a comprehensive aggregate win over LASK...

OLE'S OVERALL VERDICT

"We didn't quite have the sharpness. Of course, they haven't played for a while, some of these lads, and it showed. But we won again, and it was another debut [for] one of the kids, so it's been a good night. We expected them to come out flying and aggressive because we've seen them before and of course there's a new coach who wants them to work hard. We expected it. It's difficult when they haven't played for a while, our players. They've been in and out, 10 or 15 minutes each but not many have played 90 minutes and definitely not together as a team. It took some time before we got the rhythm but we won the game and that's job done."

WHY WE BELIEVE IN MENGI

"He's a leader. A centre-back. Of course, he's one that we believe in. He's the age group of Mason [Greenwood], so they've grown up together as good mates. He's strong, quick, good on the ball, so I think we've got a decent player there."
AN UPDATE ON DEFENSIVE INJURIES
 
"Victor [Lindelof] should be okay to travel [to Germany]. Of course, it was great to get Eric [Bailly] through a game again, because he's had his ups and downs with injuries, and he played really well. A bang on the head? That's just Eric and his playing style!" 
 
WE LACKED SHARPNESS IN ATTACK
 
"It is that sharpness that you lack when you don't play regularly. Of course some of these haven't really played since the lockdown. They played the last time against Norwich, which is more than a month ago, so for me it's a good exercise: job done, minutes under the belt, and we're ready to travel [to Germany]."

Ole wishes Alexis well ahead of transfer

 Article

Solskjaer discusses Alexis Sanchez, with an announcement now imminent.

WHY I SMILED AFTER MARTIAL'S GOAL
 
"We needed to win the game. Of course, I wanted to but I couldn't get all of them [the substitutes] on. We want to win, and Anto was begging to come on. But he promised a goal as well, so well done!"

WE LOOK FORWARD TO FACING COPENHAGEN

"I know Stale [Solbakken, their manager] really well. A good friend of mine. I did my pro licence study with him in Copenhagen, so I know what there is to know about Stale probably. And he probably knows what there is to know about me! I'm looking forward to it."

We're all United as the Reds go marching on! Our new adidas home kit for 2020/21 is on sale now.

Recommended: