Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is furious with the Premier League schedule facing Manchester United, starting with this weekend’s trip to Aston Villa. Solskjaer hit out at the scheduling during his press conference ahead of the Villa match and admitted he will have to make wholesale changes to his side across the next three games – with captain Harry Maguire set to miss a Premier League fixture for the first time since joining the club two years ago.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “Depends what team I put out in what games. One of them might not be happy because I play a full team maybe in one and the next 11 in the other. Sunday at 2pm is not the problem. That was always scheduled. Tuesday and Thursday after Thursday-Sunday, that’s a big problem. I feel for the players. I feel for the team, I feel for them, having had this fantastic season and got to a final and I’m sat here answering these questions and not about the run-in. They’ve worked their socks off, they’ve been absolutely brilliant and I’m just very, very happy for them that we’ve got to this place. We just have to do our best. It’s another challenge for us. And please, you can see I’m not happy with it but I’m not sulking. It’s one of those things that I know my players will take head on and we as a group will be stronger for it when we come out of it. I just keep my fingers crossed that nobody gets injured. That’s going to be my biggest concern, injuries. Harry Maguire has played every minute for us in the Premier League since he came. I don’t think that’s not possible now. That’s another record or another stat he could have been very proud of but I can’t really see that happening now. Two games in three days is difficult but you can accept that we do that at Christmas. Two games in three days after a long season, with all the games we’ve had, even more difficult. Three games in five days, very very difficult, almost impossible. Four games in eight, it is impossible. But I think you all know me, I hope you do anyway. We’ll take the challenge head on. I’m not sitting here sulking but I’m saying someone there does not understand the physicality of the Premier League. It’s the best league in the world. I don’t know how you can defend playing these three games in such a short space of time. I’ve got to look after the players. There might be someone not happy with my team selection for one game or two games. That might affect whoever gets into the fourth position or the Champions League. That’s not my problem. That’s everyone else’s problem. I’ve never seen that schedule before, not in modern day football. I’ve looked through and I know that Man United in 1991-92 had a very, very similar run-in and you can see how the results deteriorate. So, for me, we’ve been dealt a very bad hand by people who sit behind a desk in their suits who’ve never played football and understand what this is about. I’ve got to look after the players, that’s the biggest thing. We cannot risk injury for players and that’s too much of an injury risk. So, I don’t know. You know, this year has been so difficult, this season has been so difficult. We’re happy to put games on, it’s so important – they’ve got to be safe with security around, I understand all this. It’s got to be safe for the players. We want to try to put a good performance, a good product out there. At the moment it looks difficult but knowing these boys they’ll take the challenge head on. Knowing me, I’ll take the challenge head on. But I cannot risk them, so it has to be rotation and it has to be a lot of rotation, a lot of decisions made on the day of the game. We cannot prepare and prep for the game, which every team does – get a week or two or 10 days or five days. This is someone else dealing hands.”
United, who are second in the table, have a four-point lead on Leicester City and a six-point advantage on Chelsea. They have two games in hand on Leicester but Champions League qualification is not yet guaranteed.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer added: “I’ve got to think about my players but I know there will be teams fighting for the Champions League places that will not think that’s Man United’s best team in that team, that’s not the best players. I can promise you that it’s impossible to play 90 minutes at this intensity, at that level in the Premier League four times from Thursday to Thursday. That means I cannot play everyone every minute which means we’ve got to prioritise. I trust my players to get a result. Sunday is a big game for us. Of course, Sunday is a massive game and we’re looking forward to it after the boost of getting into a final. This will hopefully give us energy and then let’s see what we do Tuesday and Thursday. We just have to take it day by day and hopefully we can play those games.”
