More fuel for the conspiracy that Sir Alex is pulling the strings
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is welcome to give a pre-match team talk before Sunday’s match against Liverpool.
United are currently enjoying their best run of form since Ferguson retired in 2013 and rumours that Ferguson still yields huge influence at the club refuse to go away.
Ferguson maintains a healthy relationship with Solskjaer, who scored the winning goal in the 1999 Champions League final, securing the first of two European Cup trophies that Ferguson won during his time at the club.
“He [Ferguson] would be welcome to have his talk to the players if the gaffer wanted to because we know how much it meant to him to overtake Liverpool [in terms of titles won]. Our players know what this game means for everyone at Manchester United,” Solskjaer said ahead of Sunday’s fixture.
The Norwegian believes a win on Sunday would be a step towards this current team becoming “worthy” of the club’s history.
“We want to build this team to be worthy of Manchester United history and it’s another step [defeating Liverpool],” he said.
“Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea away – it was fantastic to win those three games. We want to be in the top four [at the close of the season] and we’re playing Liverpool. We know how big that game is for Manchester United, the staff, supporters, we’re just looking forward to another challenge for this team.
“We’ve taken a few steps in the right direction in that process of becoming a team that challenges higher up the league.”
Sunday could also see the return of Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial, who sustained injuries during United’s Champions League first leg tie against Paris Saint-Germain. Solskjaer is hopeful that both will be fit enough in time to play on Sunday.
“I hope Jesse will be okay, more hope than think. Anthony will be okay, but we’ve got a few more days. So they’ve got to get through these two sessions, they’ve not been part of it yet but they have been doing some recovery work. Anthony’s was a different muscle, so we think he might be ready and hope Jesse will,” Solskjaer said.
