Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Post Match Press Conference Transcript: Manchester United v. FC Copenhagen

Speaker 1: (00:00)
Ole, you must be delighted that all your attacking play finally brought its reward. You had so many shots and so many chances tonight?

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: (00:08)
Of course, we have… I don’t know how many shots we had in total, mostly close to 30. Half of them probably on targets. And their keeper he had, probably the game of his life. It was really good. Then again, I could say we need to be more clinical in knockout games. But delighted that we’re through. Another semi-final for this team and now the next challenge is to go one step further or hopefully win the last one as well.

Speaker 3: (00:37)
Okay. Laurie Whitwell, The Athletic.

Laurie Whitewell : (00:44)
Hi Ole.

Hi.

Laurie Whitewell : (00:45)
Anthony Martial seems to producer a real center forward’s display though. I know he didn’t score and we’re talking about the improvements that he’s had the season before. But what did you think of his performance and did it include everything that you’d like to see from him this season in terms of hold up play and strength in that forward position?

He was sharp. Anthony has developed throughout the season and today he had a good hand in or he was involved in the penalty. I think he’s impossible to stop at times when he gets the ball into his feet and he drives at people. He’s balanced so you can go either way. So the only thing now is to put that goal or ball in the net again. But delighted with his performance.

Speaker 3: (01:24)
Simon Stone, the BBC.

Simon Stone: (01:26)
Juan Mata has not played much lately. What does he bring to your team and what do you think he did tonight?

I think you saw when he came on, he is so composed, calm, he’s clever. He’s got quick feet in small, tight areas. He can pick a pass. He can calm us down at times. And he’s such a great influence in and around the place as well with the culture and the dressing room. So I can just commend him for his professional professionalism. And of course he’s disappointed he’s not played more, but he’s one of the top assists makers in the Europa league and he’s really done well for us.

Speaker 3: (02:18)
Rob Dawson, ESPN.

Rob Dawson: (02:24)
Both of you really, [inaudible 00:02:25] and Nemanja. I just wonder about the physical condition of the players. It’s obviously a very long season. Nearly a year now, you play 60 game. If you feel that they’ve got the energy to get through possibly two more games?

Speaker 3: (02:37)
You can start, Nema.

Nemanja: (02:38)
It was for me.

Speaker 3: (02:39)
Yeah. Or both.

Nemanja: (02:41)
I think that we are in good condition. Of course, the season was long, but we knew it before what we can expect. And the most important now is mentally to be ready. So physically I think that we are fine. We are in the same position like every other team. So the most important that we are mentally ready. And I think that mental point will decide semifinal and final of course.

Yeah, definitely. We’ve worked hard throughout the season. We’ve come quite a distance from where we were fitness wise. But as Nemanja says, mentally that’s where it’s decided. And when you get tired, the opposition is probably more tired and you just got to be mentally strong. Difficult conditions even for me. With my shirt on, I started sweating and my tee shirt’s wet. So I’m glad I didn’t have to run out there as much as they did.

Speaker 3: (03:44)
Simon Peach, Press Association.

Simon Peach: (03:49)
Hi, Ole.

Hi.

Simon Peach: (03:51)
[inaudible 00:03:51] Next few days you’re going to be stuck in a bubble now. You’re going to be training around Cologne. What’s the plan? How are you going to approach it? And Ole, will you be able to go to the match in Pittsburgh tomorrow?

No, we’ll have to watch that on tele. And of course, the facilities are not the same as we’re used to, but that’s no excuse. I think every team, we’ve got the same conditions. Of course, we’re used to having the best facilities in the world for recovery and preparation. We’ve just have to make the most out of a difficult situation in conditions that are really hot, humid. What time do we train? When do we, especially tonight, of course we play late. So it will be a strange one tomorrow morning for some of them because they probably won’t sleep for a few hours. But we’ve got six days. There’s not many times that we have six days to prepare for a game

Speaker 3: (04:46)
Martin Schmidt from Bold.

Martin Schmidt: (04:52)
Hello. Ole, you already put some words [inaudible 00:04:56] the keeper. Rasmus Falk the midfielder also played a great game. Could you put some words on him?

Sorry. I didn’t hear what you said.

Martin Schmidt: (05:06)
Rasmus Falk-

Yeah. Yeah, no. A fantastic performance. He caused us problems both when he played on the left and on the right. Technically very, very adept. Quick. He turns players for fun. We saw that against Istanbul as well when he flicked the ball around the defender inside the six yard box and normal scored. So today, he created their biggest chance by a fantastic piece of skill. And when they pulled it back to Jonas Wind, but it ended up with a great block by Aaron.

Speaker 3: (05:40)
Dave McDonald, the Mirror.

David McDonald: (05:44)
Can you hear me okay?

Speaker 3: (05:47)
Yeah.

David McDonald: (05:47)
Borrusia Dortmund came out today, Ole, and said that Jadon Sancho is still going to be their player next season and they’ve announced that they’ve extended his contract. How confident are you that you can still get a deal for him done this summer?

I can’t comment other teams’ players. You know that and I never do.

Speaker 3: (06:03)
Sam Luckhurst, Manchester Evening News.

Sam Luckhurst: (06:05)
Hi, Ole.

Hi.

[inaudible 00:06:14] fit for tonight. [inaudible 00:06:17] very important recently, what was the thinking behind that? Is it a case of having to manage the other players’ fatigue time?

So I didn’t hear the start of your question there, Laurie, sorry.

Sorry. Nemanja and Victor were rested tonight and came on during the game. Is it a case of having to manage certain player’s times because it has been such an exhausting season?

Of course we have a squad and we decided to start with the team we did today. And I felt at the time when we put Nemanja and Victor on Eric obviously had a yellow card and the game was there for us to attack. So I didn’t want him to end up in a difficult situation not having to or wanting to do a tackle. And Fred played really well, but Nemanja has always had this calm and influence on the team and he came on and did really well.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Post Match Press Conference Transcript: Manchester United v. FC Copenhagen

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