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Ole, what will happen with Dean Henderson next season and, in terms of the forwards, do you think they keep pushing each other on?
“Competition for places is important and we’re looking to have that. We have Dean, Sergio and David at the moment, in the ranks, and Lee, the fantastic professional that he is and he’s backing them up. It will be difficult to keep three of them at the club, so we’ll see what the decision will be there. Forward positions – scoring goals is always good for strikers. Seeing others scoring goals gives you a little bit of an edge that you don’t want to be behind them, but you also play for the team and the three of them [Mason, Marcus and Anthony] have been backing each other up. For me, I hope they will continue their development because it’s exciting times for United in the next few years.”
Ole, we’ll see two Norwegian managers against each other tomorrow night…
“First of all, it’s not me against Stale – we’re not playing against each other. He’s had a very good career, I think about 750 games or something. I think I’m getting towards about 400 now, I’ve been a manager for almost 10 years, so I’m not that new. It depends on what you think is new. Stale is a bit older than me and even though I’m turning grey, hopefully I’ll keep the hair!”
Ole, having now already qualified for next season’s Champions League, is the pressure now off a bit in this tournament?
“I don’t think so. We went into this season knowing that the Europa League is a great chance for us to get a trophy, to go far in a tournament and to also groom a few of the youngsters. It was perfect for us. I think if we’d been in the Champions League this season – which is of course where we always want to be – I maybe wouldn’t have had the chance to play the likes of Mason and Brandon as much as we have done. So many of the young kids who have now started what will be fantastic careers have done so with the Europa League. So it’s always been about that as well. It’s about keeping the squad together, having a group that is working together and giving people chances. Brandon is sat next to me now and is going to play in a quarter-final in the Europa League, which is a great achievement for him this season. So it’s been perfect for us.”
Ole, you’ve only lost one of the last 23 games – what’s changed in the last few months?
“We have developed through the season. We’ve had a squad that’s been working together. Of course there were a few changes in the January transfer window that made us even stronger. But also the teamwork we’ve done is now more and more natural and we’ve found good form. Of course we’ve got good players and we’ve got players back from injury, but one in 23 is one too many.”
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