OLE GUNNAR SOLKSJAER confessed he hopes to remain in charge of Manchester United beyond May, after watching his side beat Newcastle United 2-0 on Wednesday evening.
The Red Devils made it four wins out of four under Solskjaer , meaning the caretaker manager has equalled Matt Busby’s best-ever start to a United tenure.
The visitors had to bide their time at St James’ Park, with the breakthrough coming as substitute Romelu Lukaku made an instant 64th-minute impact after Martin Dubravka spilt Marcus Rashford’s free-kick.
Rashford then sealed the points 10 minutes from time, producing a composed finish after good link-up play from Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez.
Solskjaer has already managed to restore the feel-good factor at the club and he admitted post-match that he doesn’t want to depart at the end of his projected six-month spell at the helm.
When asked if he will leave United in May, Solskjaer replied: “I don’t want to.”
He went on to address matching Busby’s record, before bemoaning a ‘sluggish’ first-half display from his team.
“I’m just thinking about the next game because if you win four you can win another four with this club,” he told Sky Sports. “That’s the challenge, that’s the standard we’re used to.”
“It was a very professional performance. We never hit the heights that we can do but I felt we were in control, kept plugging away,”
“It was a great goal again by Marcus and a great reaction again by Rom – good first touch as a sub.
“In the first half it was sluggish, it was almost like a testimonial at times – too slow, too many touches and too many square passes and back
“But the big, big plus was the clean sheet.”
Lukaku has two in two as a substitute, while Rashford was again United’s stand-out forward operating centrally .
Solskjaer believes this gives him a nice problem.
“You can play with two of them, no problem,” he added. “One can play on the right, they can play two through the middle. It gives me options.”
There were many standout moments this year, many players that stepped up to the mark but for me the one player who epitomized all the good things about Leinster is Robbie Henshaw. Himself and Ringrose make Leinsters and Ireland’s best centre pairing and consistently deliver a quality of performances not matched by others either here or abroad. Long may it continue.
My wish for 2021? That we can get back to supporting our team. God I miss the RDS match days.
@Ro Molloy: so true
So if you include last seasons victories with this seasons, it something like 27 played and 26 wins. Which is an incredible stat.
@Greg Cavey: 28 out of 29 if you Champions Cup. That’s phenomenal. However they haven’t played any decent teams this yet this season. The lack of depth in most PRO14 squads makes it easy for them when the internationals are on.
Munster & Ulster are also too strong for most other PRO14 teams.
Leinster were convincing in Europe. Munster showed grit and hinted that real progress is being made. Ulster? More depth required & maybe more quality in some positions.
Playing in the PRO14 isn’t improving Leinster but maybe when the top SA teams join it will improve them & the other Irish provinces and therefore the national team.
@TL55: Why would they need to improve…They are the best in the league by far.
@Harry O’Callaghan: To beat the likes of Saracens, Exeter and Toulouse.
Leinster correctly want to the big fish in the big pond not just the little pond.
@Harry O’Callaghan: So champions cup quarter final losses are the acceptable Leinster standard now are they? Do you think Exeter aren’t looking to improve or will they just sit and wait for someone to take the champions cup and premiership from them?
@Kohn Jeenan: it’s acceptable to lose 1 game of rugby per season. This can happen if you can’t see the improvement year on year at leinster well your just not looking.
@Chris Mc: I didn’t say they aren’t improving though, they are, I was saying they definitely need to keep improving, since it was implied they don’t need to improve at all just for being the best club in the pro14….
@Chris Mc: do you not think leinster have some issues at the setpiece? Furlong should shore up the scrum but leinster still have a bit of a dependence on toner
@Tim Magner: the leinster lineout is very poor even with toner in it.
Any team who competes in the air will win a fair amount of leinster ball. Its hard to understand as Cullen was a very good lineout operator.
Its far too complicated, too many moving parts and as simple as it sounds putting toner (or Ryan) straight up at 2 often discourages teams from competing and as such makes ball to the back easier to win in the long run.
@Chris Mc: I just don’t think the leinster pack has improved since ’18. Back then they had probably the 2 best props in europe in furlong & healy, ryan was on fire, toner was 2 yrs younger, fardy was keeping lowe out of the hcup squad and leavy was at his best. Since then porter and doris have shown their mettle at international level and baird looks a serious prospect but I dont think the pack now is as good as it was
@Tim Magner: fair point, healy is not getting any younger and Jack is gone. Furlong will be back soon enough and porter is a fine prop.
Hooker we are in a better place and while Ryan is not playing as well as he was what’s coming through with baird Dunne and Moloney is getting better. The backrow is better now. Leavy is almost there and doris is firing, Conan, jvdf, connors, penny ruddock Murphy etc are all seriously pushing each other. This pack will gell over the next few months. Only real concern is at looshead.
@Chris Mc: yer by no means in a bad place, ye still have the best pack in the pro14. I think the 18 pack was the best in europe though. As you say though the 2 young hookers look the business, penny has the look of a class player and baird could be special so as a munster fan I know leinster are going nowhere
@Tim Magner: I guess time will tell with this lot. In fairness the munster pack is becoming a serious unit too. Bar kilcoyne your missing a front row but have a few younger ones who could step up but the likes of coombes JOD and Aherne all could really make the grade. Theres nothing like players who grew up wanting to play for a club.