Every word from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer press conference pre-Man City 7 March 2021

You had a really good season last season against the well-established teams, but it’s not been like that this time around. What do you put that down to?
“Good question. Of course, we’ve looked at it. In a strange sort of way, you might not agree with it, but we’ve been more positive. We’ve been going with a high press in more or less every game, on the front foot, trying to pin the teams back, especially when they have the ball. Last year, maybe we relied more on counter-attacks, drop deep, defended really well, hung on. As a coach and manager, that’s the worst feeling ever, when you’re defending in and around your box because any little quality from your opponent and you’ve conceded. We’ve tried to go more positive. I’ve got to say, we’ve not been clinical or ruthless enough with our chances that we’ve had because we’ve had chances in these games. They’ve been tight games, and it’s another test for us now, another opportunity to put that right.”

Ed Woodward has said that there’s clear signs of progress on the pitch. Is that happening as quickly as you would like it to be?
“Of course, you want to win every game of football, you do. But if we compare to last season, we’re quite a bit higher in the league compared to the same stage. We’re still through in Europe and the FA Cup. It’s probably the league that you think, ‘yeah, that’s where we’ve shown the progress’. Hopefully, we can prove in the Europa League and the FA Cup that we have taken another further step. This team, the ambitions are there, of course. We have more experience to be in this position, compared to last season. We’re gelling more as a team, they’re fitter but at the moment, we look short term and that’s Sunday, to get back to creating chances, taking them and scoring goals again.”