Ole believes Reds' creativity is improving

The Reds have, at times, been criticised this year for failing to find a way past unrelenting backlines, but Ole highlighted two matches over the Christmas break as a sign we’re improving in this area.

Newcastle United and Burnley are two of the more miserly defences in the Premier League, but, during our games against the two clubs last month, we managed to net six times, while registering 15 shots on targets across both matches.

The Reds also saw significantly more of the ball in those clashes - enjoying 73 per cent possession against Newcastle and then 61 per cent in the win over Burnley.

With that in mind, Ole was eager to highlight such progress when addressing the press on Monday morning.

“I think we are improving,” he said during his pre-match press conference, ahead of our Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Manchester City on Tuesday. 

“I think the Burnley and the Newcastle games [are examples]. I think we’ve done it quite a few times, even at home. We’ve lost one game at home this year and there are more and more teams dropping back.

“We’re a young team still and I feel we’re improving. It’s not just getting behind them, because teams now drop and we get in between them, like we did against City last time. We get past their first press and we’ve got so much pace up front that they drop, so now we’re getting a chance to run at the back four or five.”

It’s not only breaking teams down where Ole feels we've seen progress in recent weeks, but the boss has also been pleased with the side’s forward-thinking approach.

“It’s so tight and teams are so well organised,” he said. “In the Premier League, it’s very rare that you play against players who aren’t fit or don’t have good quality. So you have to find the ideas.

“I think we’ve got ball-playing centre-backs and we’re getting the full-backs high up. Aaron [Wan-Bissaka] has been freed more to go forward, for example, the cross against Newcastle [for Marcus Rashford's goal].

“We’re getting more and more goalscoring instinct from Marcus [Rashford] and Anthony [Martial]. They need that - Mason [Greenwood] has to be in and around the box.”

United also produced an impressive attacking display at the Etihad Stadium last month, when the Reds won 2-1.

Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting with Pep Guardiola’s men at Old Trafford, Ole is hoping for a repeat of December’s dominant performance.

“We beat them a month ago, so we know we can beat them," he said. “We played a really good game. I felt we had nine or 10 chances in the first half that could have easily been three or four goals.

“You’ve got to beat their press because they are good at regaining the ball quickly. If you can get past the first press, I think you’ve got a good chance, and if you can press them at the back you’ve also got a good chance. There are different ways of getting a result.”

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