Ole: These boys are hungry
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer feels his Manchester United team fully deserved to claim all three points from a predictably tough game against Burnley, after moving on majestically from a frustrating, and at times controversial, first half.
The manager admits he and his men felt aggrieved to have had Harry Maguire's superbly headed 'goal' chalked off for a foul before the break, but instead of letting that niggle them, the Reds simply kicked on and eventually breached the hosts' stubborn defence with a brilliant strike by Paul Pogba.
Here are the leading quotes from Ole's post-match interviews with MUTV and Sky Sports...
SMILING AT THE SUMMIT
“When you get three points in the Premier League, it always makes you smile. It was a hard-fought three points though, it always is up here.”
Here are the leading quotes from Ole's post-match interviews with MUTV and Sky Sports...
SMILING AT THE SUMMIT
“When you get three points in the Premier League, it always makes you smile. It was a hard-fought three points though, it always is up here.”
Ole’s post-match interview Video
Ole’s post-match interview
The boss hailed United’s team spirit and knack of ‘getting it over the line’, after a hard-fought win at Burnley…
RELIEVED TO HAVE WON
"We've had a knack of getting the result over the line. And even though it could have been more comfortable at the end, because I thought we played really well in the second half and we should have had a second or third goal, still you can see the spirit and how much it means to the boys when we defended that ball at the end. Luke sticks his head in, the ball flies and it's like pinball in there, and it's one of those where you breathe a sigh of relief after when it's over."
MANAGING THE FRUSTRATION
"You had to be calm, and not be too emotionally attached because you can argue every single decision. And the goal that Harry scored was perfectly good, it should never have been disallowed of course but there's nothing we can do about it when he's made up his mind. At half-time, it was very important for us that we settled our grievances. I know the emotions were running high and the players disagreed with some of the decisions that were made out there, so it was our job to calm them down and focus on the things we can control and we did that. We knew that we weren't going to get anything for free, we were going to have to earn it and we did, we played really well in the second half. You expect the onslaught in the last few minutes, but we were both lucky and good. We held out.”
"We've had a knack of getting the result over the line. And even though it could have been more comfortable at the end, because I thought we played really well in the second half and we should have had a second or third goal, still you can see the spirit and how much it means to the boys when we defended that ball at the end. Luke sticks his head in, the ball flies and it's like pinball in there, and it's one of those where you breathe a sigh of relief after when it's over."
MANAGING THE FRUSTRATION
"You had to be calm, and not be too emotionally attached because you can argue every single decision. And the goal that Harry scored was perfectly good, it should never have been disallowed of course but there's nothing we can do about it when he's made up his mind. At half-time, it was very important for us that we settled our grievances. I know the emotions were running high and the players disagreed with some of the decisions that were made out there, so it was our job to calm them down and focus on the things we can control and we did that. We knew that we weren't going to get anything for free, we were going to have to earn it and we did, we played really well in the second half. You expect the onslaught in the last few minutes, but we were both lucky and good. We held out.”
VERDICT ON THOSE VAR DECISIONS
“I’ve not watched any of them so I can’t really say. It might have been a foul by Luke apparently, so then that’s probably a right decision because it’s in the same phase of attack. It was definitely not a foul by Harry for his goal. If you can’t jump and head it in like this... I don’t believe that’s anywhere near a foul. Apart from that, we started playing after the five-minute stop with the red card [check] and the foul by Luke, so I was delighted with the response after a tough first half-hour.”
GAME PLAN PAID OFF FOR THE GOAL
“Burnley are so well organised and there are not many spaces, but we did look at some of the spaces. It was a great cross, a very well-executed finish. Then we could have had one or two more goals to calm the nerves towards the end, but we just like to do it the hard way.”
“I’ve not watched any of them so I can’t really say. It might have been a foul by Luke apparently, so then that’s probably a right decision because it’s in the same phase of attack. It was definitely not a foul by Harry for his goal. If you can’t jump and head it in like this... I don’t believe that’s anywhere near a foul. Apart from that, we started playing after the five-minute stop with the red card [check] and the foul by Luke, so I was delighted with the response after a tough first half-hour.”
GAME PLAN PAID OFF FOR THE GOAL
“Burnley are so well organised and there are not many spaces, but we did look at some of the spaces. It was a great cross, a very well-executed finish. Then we could have had one or two more goals to calm the nerves towards the end, but we just like to do it the hard way.”
90 in 20: Burnley 0 United 1 Video
90 in 20: Burnley 0 United 1
Watch the extended highlights of January's important 1-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor…
PLEASED WITH POGBA
“I’ve always said Paul is a big, big player for us. He’s a good character in the dressing room, he’s always one that the lads look to, he’s a world champion of course and we’re seeing the best of Paul at the moment. I feel he is getting better and better for every game. He’s been injured and he’s had COVID and it’s just natural that he needed some time to get fit.”
THREE POINTS AHEAD BEFORE ANFIELD
“It's a brilliant position to be in. Of course we know we’re going to the champions, they’ve had an unbelievable three-and-a-half seasons so we know that’s going to be a difficult game for us but we’re ready for it. I think we couldn’t have asked for a better time to play them, because we’re in good shape, in good form, we're hungry – that’s the big thing, these boys are hungry. They want to get better and that’s a test again, a test of character and a test of quality.”
“I’ve always said Paul is a big, big player for us. He’s a good character in the dressing room, he’s always one that the lads look to, he’s a world champion of course and we’re seeing the best of Paul at the moment. I feel he is getting better and better for every game. He’s been injured and he’s had COVID and it’s just natural that he needed some time to get fit.”
THREE POINTS AHEAD BEFORE ANFIELD
“It's a brilliant position to be in. Of course we know we’re going to the champions, they’ve had an unbelievable three-and-a-half seasons so we know that’s going to be a difficult game for us but we’re ready for it. I think we couldn’t have asked for a better time to play them, because we’re in good shape, in good form, we're hungry – that’s the big thing, these boys are hungry. They want to get better and that’s a test again, a test of character and a test of quality.”