Ole on Munich, Everton and loan players

Saturday 06 February 2021 16:00

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he hopes his Manchester United players can mark today's 63rd Munich anniversary in the most fitting way possible - with a good performance and a victory.

It's only the fourth time in Premier League history that the Reds have played on the actual date the fateful crash happened - 6 February.

United host Everton at Old Trafford in the day's Saturday evening slot as the team look to build further on last week's incredible 9-0 win over Southampton.

In his exclusive chat with club media's Mark Sullivan, Ole reflected on our amazing victory, discussed some impressive displays from our loan players in recent days and explained why the late, great Busby Babes who perished in Munich will always be in everyone's thoughts...

Firstly Ole, you must have been delighted with that performance and incredible win over Southampton?
“Yeah, of course. It’s about creating good habits and it doesn’t really matter if it’s 0-0, 5-0 or 0-1, you just have to try to do the right things and I’ve got to say they kept going and kept working and kept trying the right things. We scored a few goals towards the end and that’s because we worked hard in the whole game.”

Ole's praise for loan stars Video

Ole's praise for loan stars

The manager tells us his thoughts on the recent performances from Lingard, Garner and Chong...

It was an unbelievable week of Premier League football with our result, Liverpool losing at home to Brighton and at West Ham we saw Jesse Lingard get two debut goals which you must have been delighted about?
“Brilliant and that’s what we wanted for Jesse. He’s been working hard and training really well and keeping his spirits up. We know Jesse, he’s an absolute top character to have around and he deserved to go [and get some football]. Of course we could have kept him here and he maybe played the odd game, but we had to do the right thing by him and give him a chance to show what kind of player he is. There are the Euros in the summer that he might have a chance to go to, who knows.”

The other boys on loan are doing well as well with Nottingham Forest fans raving about James Garner’s performance and Tahith Chong scoring over in Belgium, so a good week all round…
“Yes I think we’ve done well with finding different places for players because it’s important that they go out and they get the match-time and a challenge. With Jimmy and Tahith we thought it was right that they changed their hunting ground.”

As for the first team, what’s the team news ahead of the Everton game – any fresh injury concerns?
“No, we’re still looking good. There is a doubt on Eric [Bailly] and if he’s going to be available, but that’s more or less it.”

Everton have had mixed results but their league position doesn’t lie – they’re a very good side aren’t they?
“Very good side. They’ve won the last four away games so they’ve been doing really well away from home and we need to turn up. We’ve done brilliantly against them in the two away games we’ve had this season – 3-1 and 2-0. I think we showed resilience and quality on the counterattack and patience and creativity when we had the ball, so we’ve had some good performances. But this is a new game and we really need to up our game again to get three points.”

As you say the two games against them this season have been cracking matches…
“Yes very good games. Of course when you win games you always like to say that! They’re a good side with loads of good attacking players and floods of talent in that group.”

What Munich means to United fans now

 Article

It's been 63 years since the Munich Air Disaster, and the tragedy continues to captivate our supporters.

Of those attacking players, Dominic Calvert-Lewin is back to goalscoring form and is always a threat…
“Yes he’s one of the best in the league in the air. He’s got probably the best one over the years as a coach in big Dunc [Ferguson], he was a hard nut to crack. You can see his game has developed working under Duncan. Of course Josh [King] has moved back up north again and that’s another challenge we might face.”

Finally, we commemorate the Munich Air Disaster today – 63 years ago since the tragedy occurred and it’s always important we mark the occasion in the right way…
“Yes of course. The Busby Babes are such an important part of the spirit of the club and the history of the club. It’s not been very often that we’ve had a game on the exact date, this is only the fourth time [in Premier League history]. Hopefully we can put in a good performance worthy of Man United and our history and [that can be] a fitting tribute to them. We’ve got loads of Academy players in the squad, I could probably name five, six or seven who will play today.”

Recommended: