Nemanja Matic has revealed how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told Manchester United players to produce a much more attacking, dangerous style of football against Cardiff City on Saturday.
Jose Mourinho was dismissed from his post as Man United manager on Tuesday following the club’s worst start to a league campaign in 28 years.
The appointment of Solskjaer immediately revitalized the players, who battered Cardiff in a fantastic 5-1 win packed with fast, precise attacking football.
Speaking after the game, Matic made a note of how Solskjaer encouraged his players to move the ball forward.
Matic: “He (Ole) is only two days with us but we had a few meetings. He said we need to play more forward, to be more dangerous in attack, to run more. To compete with every team and that’s exactly what we did today. We’re happy.” #mufc [Sun]
— United Xtra (@utdxtra) December 24, 2018
You could get extremely tactical about Saturday when illustrating the differences with Mourinho. The distance covered. The role of the full-backs. The position of Jesse Lingard, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial. The pressing.
But what really stood out, above anything, was that United looked to play forward. Not sideways. Not sometimes forward and then sometimes long. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, United subscribed to a central footballing principle of 2018: that fast, precise quick passing play up the pitch with movement up front will bring you rewards.
In response, the footballing gods gave United five goals for the first time in the post-Fergie era, and put a smile back on the faces of supporters ahead of Christmas.
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