'My good record counts for nothing'
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has played down his fine recent record against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and says there is a reason it’s a rarity for coaches to do so well against his managerial counterpart.
The pair will meet for the sixth time as managers when United host City in the 183rd Manchester derby on Saturday evening.
Last season, Ole’s United won three of the four encounters between the sides, which included the Reds completing a league double over City for the first time since the 2009/10 campaign.
Despite that, the boss has praised Guardiola and admits it takes a lot of hard work from his squad and coaching team, both on and off the pitch, to get those wins over the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager.
"You know why managers don’t have a good record against Pep’s teams? It’s because Pep has a fantastic team and is a fantastic manager,” Ole said ahead of the derby.
“It’s not me having a good record against him, it’s my players, my team. It’s my coaching staff as well. We sit together and try and find the way that we think is the right one [to approach the game].”
Ole was keen to highlight that it’s the players on the pitch who determine the outcome of games, although he couldn’t help but point out that it was the United boss who got the better of Pep when they last met as players.
“It’s fine margins in most games of football and I would never say that I have [a good record against Guardiola] because me and Pep, we don’t play.
“If I’d have played, maybe I might have tackled him or dribbled [past] him. I think I beat him…I think he was playing in the Euros in 2000 for Spain, I’m not sure. We [Norway] won 1-0, maybe that’s the only win I’ve got against him.”
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