Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has responded to Louis van Gaal‘s claim that Manchester United are playing “defensive, counter-attacking football” under his management.
Solskjaer has enjoyed remarkable success since replacing Jose Mourinho in the Old Trafford dugout, winning 15 of his first 20 games in charge.
The Norwegian was appointed on a permanent basis last week and marked the occasion by beating Watford 2-1 on Saturday.
It was a far from convincing performance, and one that Van Gaal might well believe backs up his recent criticism of Solskjaer’s style.
But Solskjaer has explained why the Dutchman might be a little wide of the mark.
“LVG is entitled to his opinion,” Solskjaer said. “We’ve been looking at games. Some games we’ve pressed really high and won the ball up there and dominated.
“He’s probably talking more about the PSG game, which was a game that we had to defend really well in the circumstances and counter attack.
“It’s about where you win the ball. You want to defend, to win the ball, to go forward. You have to win the ball to attack and for me there’s two ways.
“Can you attack quickly like we did today. Why not? As long as your intention is, when you win the ball, to attack.
“The foundation in any team is to play well without the ball. If you can do that you’ve got a great chance.
“If that’s high pressure, low pressure, medium… sometimes we have to vary that.
“Players here – most of them – they’ve had Mourinho, they’ve had Van Gaal, they’ve had Moyes and Fergie, so they’ve had a great education. They know both sides of the game.”