Manchester United and Belgium international praised the impact the Norwegian coach has had on the squad since his appointment as caretaker boss
Romelu Lukaku says he is enjoying working with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United because the manager keeps the striker “hungry”.
Lukaku scored twice on Wednesday to end his six-game goalless streak in the English top-flight to guide United to a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Man Utd have now recorded 12 wins from 15 games since Solskjaer was put in charge in December on an interim basis until the end of the season.
The Red Devils’ resurgence under the former striker has prompted calls for United to appoint him on a permanent contract and Lukaku is the latest to voice his admiration for Solskjaer.
“I like him. He’s really open, really honest in his communication, and keeps me hungry, so whenever I get a chance to play I just want what’s best for the team and to help the team win.,” he told The Daily Mirror.
“It is really helpful that he is a former player. If you look at my career I’ve always had good strikers helping me, so now I’m here with Ole I’m learning a lot, and every day is another day to learn, another day to improve and that’s how I see it.”
Lukaku is now on 10 Premier League goals for the season having netted for the first time since the start of January.
With the likes of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard unavailable for the midweek encounter, Lukaku was delighted to step in and return to scoring ways.
“I just wanted to score. I’m a striker so I want to score goals,” he added.
“So I did what I had to do, but in the other goal I was involved in the build-up, and I created a couple of chances against Liverpool, so I knew it was coming. So I’m happy that today I helped the team.
“I’m happy with my goals, happy with my performance, but I’m happy with the win. It was really important for us to win today, if you look at the other teams’ results.
“We did what we had to do and now we have to keep going.
“It was time for other players to step up, which we did, and we won the game and now we have to move forward to the next game, hopefully keep the same level, win games along the way, and when the injured players come back, that they help us to get where we want to get.”