We only focus one game at a time: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ahead of Leicester City clash

Following a mixed start to the new Premier League season, Manchester United are set for a difficult run of fixtures in the league and Europe in the coming weeks.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in a file photo; Credit: Manchester United Twitter page
By Karthik Raman | Oct 15, 2021 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Manchester United are set for a tough run of fixtures in the Premier League and Champions League in the coming weeks. Their difficult run starts with a trip to Leicester City on Saturday. Ahead of the clash, the primary concern for fans has been about United’s mixed start to the new campaign. Despite the team picking up some crucial points, the side’s performance has been criticised by experts and fans alike. Add to that United received major injury concerns in the international break, with both first-choice centre-backs dominating the headlines. Raphael Varane is a certain absentee for the weekend clash, but it is not clear whether skipper Harry Maguire will play any part.

Providing the team update, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, in his pre-match press conference, said: “Yeah, you know the international breaks, sometimes it’s a time to cross your fingers and hope for the best because as we see with Raphael, he’s got an injury, out for a few weeks, but then again Victor [Lindelof] and Eric [Bailly] played in the internationals and got good game-time so that was good for us.”

“With regards to Fred and Edinson, they played a full game this morning – half one it kicked off! So of course, we’re not counting on them. We’ve got to give them the time to rest and recover, which of course you have to. They played well, and that was a good thing for us, [they’re] not injured, hopefully they can be involved again during midweek, during the Champions League [against Atalanta]. Harry [Maguire] has just joined us on the grass this morning, so that was the first time he’s been on the grass, Amad the first time on the grass today as well, so we look quite strong.”

Solskjaer on Leicester

Despite Leicester City’s indifferent form of late, Solskjaer is expecting a “difficult” test this weekend. “It’s early on, early doors in the season. Sometimes, you don’t really see the real picture so early and, of course, they’re in the Europa League as well, so they got so many games. I have the utmost respect every time we play Leicester because they’ve signed well again, got good players; sometimes it takes times to gel. I’ve seen good football at times, and at times, like most of us, they’ve conceded goals that they shouldn’t. As every time we go down there, it’s going to be difficult,” he added.

Leicester is the start of a difficult run of games United are set to play in the coming weeks. When asked about it, Ole said, “We’ve added some exciting players going forward, we’ve scored goals, and it’s a nice time to be an attacking player for us as well. We need to keep that going, keep attacking, keep having the Man United DNA as well as defending well, come together as a team, make sure we’re hard to play against.” 

“I can’t think [about] Atalanta now, Liverpool. It’s only Leicester. And that’s probably going to be the key, that we only focus one game at a time, maybe even spells in games. We’re looking forward to this run. All the best players want to play against the best teams, and we’ve got some of the best teams coming up.”





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