Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has spoken of the importance of playing attacking football at Premier League side Manchester United. The Norwegian replaced Jose Mourinho in December and is still unbeaten since taking over, winning nine of his 10 matches in charge and playing vastly more attacking football in the process.
Mourinho was heavily criticised for his pragmatic, defensive approach and Solskjaer says that philosophy does not work at Old Trafford, where the onus is on United to dominate. Asked what United’s identity is, Solskjaer told Sky Sports: ‘It’s a winning identity. It’s a confident identity. We want to take risks. ‘We want to go for the second, the third and the fourth goal because that’s just how we do things at Manchester United. If you can’t handle that then you are at the wrong club.’
He continued: ‘The way we play with pace and power, we should never forget our history of counter-attacking, even though we are one of the teams that want to dominate games. If teams drop deep we need to have a way of playing against those teams but also when we defend we defend to win the ball to counter-attack quickly.
‘To win games you need to pass it forward and run forward.’ United’s attacking players have been liberated since Solskjaer took charge, with the likes of Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford scoring and assisting freely, though they showed their defensive resolve at the weekend with a stubborn 1-0 win over Leicester City – their fifth straight away win.
Manchester United have started negotiations with Marcus Rashford over a new and improved deal that will extend his stay at the club. The striker has been on fire since the arrival of caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, scoring six goals in his past 10 matches, and he is to be rewarded with a lucrative new deal. Rashford is set to see his current wage packet more than doubled to over £150,000-a-week with bonuses, according to the Telegraph.
United are wary of interest in the 21-year-old, most notably from Real Madrid, but the young forward sees his long-term future at his home club. Anthony Martial has already been tied down to a new £200,000-a-week deal and United chiefs expect the young pairing to spearhead the attack for years to come.
The pair are not the only players who United are keen to keep. David de Gea has a huge contract offer on the table, while Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and Ashley Young have all been offered the chance to extend their stay at Old Trafford beyong their contracts expiring this summer.