Exclusive interview with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ahead of Tottenham v Man Utd

How has the week been for you, the staff and the players?
“Difficult, as you’d expect. But also, a week with lots of focused minds and determined players. It’s been very good on the training ground, I have to say. The boys deserve all the credit for what they’ve done this week, how focused they’ve been. There’s been no blaming others or pointing fingers, because they are a great group of players, good professionals, and the culture we’ve built is good. We’re disappointed, of course, we’re not happy and jovial, we’re determined to put things right.”

Many of the players have spoken about the honest conversations they’ve had with each other. How important is that?
“Very. We’ve got to be, how do you say, in Norway we have an expression: ‘the distance to the ceiling has to be high’. It has to be a room where we can say things openly without it coming back or coming out. We need to sort things out on the pitch, that’s what it’s about. Nothing is personal, because they all want to do their best and they back each other. They know they need each other, the players.”