Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed studying his former legendary manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Norwegian who is set to manage the biggest game of his career against FC Barcelona on Wednesday, played for over a decade at United with Ferguson in charge.
“When I came back here as the manager I thought a lot about what makes a winning team,” Solskjaer told ESPN.
“What does it really take to win on the biggest stage? I’m not one to sit back, rest on my laurels and think: ‘That was a great time’ – it’s more thinking about what did we do to get there.
“What did the manager tell us? What kind of master team talks did he have? When did he speak to us? All these little things.
“I’m quite lucky because I did write a few diaries.
“I did think a lot about football so I do have vivid memories of things that happened and I’ve written some things down.
The 46-year-old Solskjaer who played 235 times for the Red Devils, confirmed that he shifted closer focus on studying Ferguson during the twilight of his career as United’s striker.
“Towards the end of my career I was more focused on what the manager said. You learn that there was a pattern to what he was saying.
“There’s a pattern to how he builds his team up to believe: ‘We are going to make this.’
“I’ve used some of his team talks. You’ve got to plan; you can’t just act on emotion. As I got to know him, I realised it’s not just emotion.
“When he went on one of his hairdryers or when he was hammering people, there was a reason behind what he did. He was maybe pointing at one player so that the 10 others would help him out.
“He would put his arm around someone or really go hard on someone to really get the best out of them.
“That’s what I learned from him the most – how he managed to get the best out of every single player,” concluded Solskjaer.