Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has warned his Manchester United players that their forthcoming training camp in Dubai should not be treated as a holiday.
United will travel to the Gulf following Saturday’s FA cup tie with Reading for a four-day camp designed on building on fitness and tactical familiarity.
The camp comes ahead of their Premier League trip to Tottenham Hotspur next Sunday, Solskajer’s first meeting with a ‘top six’ club and a test of how far United have come under his stewardship.
United’s caretaker manager does not, therefore, want his players to treat their time in Dubai as a mid-season break.
“I’ve had plenty of time to speak with them but we haven’t had plenty of time to train,” Solskjaer said, when explaining the reasoning behind arranging the mid-season training camp.
“It’ll be a time to get some fitness work and work hard with them, so if any of the players think it’s a holiday they’re wrong.
“We’re there to stick together, to work hard on the physical part of it and of course think ahead to the Tottenham game.”
Solskjaer has only spoken positively about the players at his disposal since replacing Jose Mourinho last month, but said he will use the time in Dubai as an opportunity to help some members of his squad improve.
“They’ve not ‘scared’ me yet,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed working with them, they want to learn, they want to improve, that’s key for any footballer.
“If you’re hungry and humble enough to you have something to improve on and work on then we’ll improve as a team.”