Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has warned his Manchester United players not to be “conned” when they come up against Tottenham again on Sunday. Ahead of the reverse fixture at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, Solskjaer reflected on their last meeting and sent a warning to his players ahead of the crunch clash in the capital.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said “The biggest thing we’ve improved on is our fitness levels because we were way short of what they were at. It was our third game (in the Premier League), was it? Third game and we didn’t look anything like [we should do]. And we got conned into a red card, and that’s something that we have to be aware of. We can’t react like this because we know in games there’ll be situations where we’ll be wound up. We’ve learned a lot from that and I’m sure we’ll have a better performance this time around. I think the players will remember that game with a lot of pain and their pride has been hurt, our professional pride has been hurt. The way and the manner we lost is not ourselves and we know that. We gave ourselves a difficult game by having 10 men. Pre-season was short and we weren’t up to the standard required, but we were so poor and I’m pretty sure we’ll see some players wanting to prove that we’re better than that.”
Harry Kane, who has been linked with a summer switch to Manchester United, was on the scoresheet back in October with goals either side of the break. Now top of the charts for goals and assists in the Premier League this term with 19 and 13 respectively, Solskjaer knows his defenders need to be prepared to come up against the England captain.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said “When you’re playing against one of the best centre forwards in European football, of course it’s something that we prepare for. I think every team when they play Tottenham or England, you know Harry Kane’s qualities. But we prepare the defenders for every single opponent. The season that Son and Kane have had, their relationship is one of Tottenham’s strengths and they have other quality players we have to be aware of.”
Hitting the Red Devils for six at Old Trafford back in October in a sublime display, the United boss was fuming after the trouncing following Erik Lamela’s role in Anthony Martial’s first-half dismissal. With the pair clashing just before a Spurs corner was whipped into the box, the Tottenham man went to ground clutching his face after a bit of contact from his opponent. Leading 2-1 at that stage following Tanguy Ndombele and Son Heung-min goals after Bruno Fernandes’ penalty in the second minute, the Lilywhites went on to hit another four as they made a real statement at the Theatre of Dreams.
