Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani scored the opening two goals, as Manchester United comfortably beat Spurs 3-0.
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Manchester United bounced back in style at Tottenham Hotspur following last weekend’s hammering at the hands of Liverpool. United were humbled 5-0 by Jurgen Klopp’s side at Old Trafford last Sunday. A lot of pressure mounted on the club and its manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following the poor result. However, the team from Manchester responded in style to put behind the disappointment of last week, beating Spurs 3-0 in the Premier League on Saturday. Solskjaer hailed the work rate and link-up play of the frontmen, as veteran forwards Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani scored the opening two goals on the night. The Norwegian further praised his players for their hard work and dedication to the gameplan, as they produced a memorable performance on Saturday.
Speaking to MUTV and Sky Sports, Ole said, “The boys have been really good, they’ve worked really hard. It has to be banter in football, that’s how it should be. Ever since Tuesday morning when we came in, we had a plan with the coaches. We sat down with the players, made sure that we’re all buying into this plan. It’s a little bit of a different approach when you’re away from home, we’ve had a difficult week and they’ve stuck at it and worked really, really hard to get this result.”
“We know when we have a clean sheet we have a chance to win any game because of the quality we have up front, but it’s about control. I thought we spread the game really well with the wing-backs. After the first six or seven minutes, when they had most of the ball, we settled down, we kept passing, we kept switching the ball, and you could see things opening up.”
Solskjaer reserved special praise for his frontmen, especially Cavani, who impressed the manager in training. “I’ve been here three years as manager and Tuesday’s training performance by Edinson Cavani is the best performance anyone has put into a training session here. The old men [Ronaldo and Cavani] led from the front. They play well together. They have loads of respect for each other. The work-rate and quality they put in is second to none. The [players] play for the club no matter what. It’s not about me. It’s about us improving as a group.”
Opening up on his substitutions, Ole said, “We know we have players like Mason [Greenwood], Jesse [Lingard], Marcus [Rashford], Jadon [Sancho]. We can put players on with quality. The main thing was to get to 60-70 minutes with spaces to run into and we did.”
Next up is a trip to Italy, where Manchester United will play Atalanta in the Champions League. “You know you’re under pressure from day one when you walk in here and of course this week has been a difficult one for the players, fans they haven’t been happy but as I said out there, this is one game,” he added.
“It’s the next one now – Atalanta. For me there’s so many other things out there, horrible things that you have to look at yourself and be happy that you are where you are and that you have the responsibility that you have. You have to enjoy it because when I don’t then it’s time to knock on and say ‘right that’s not me’.”
