Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he already knows what team he will look to pick for Manchester United’s huge fixtures against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Liverpool in the month ahead.
United head to Fulham on Saturday for a Premier League fixture which could see them reach fourth place for the first time all season, but they also have some massive dates to come on three different fronts beginning on Tuesday with PSG’s visit to Old Trafford.
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And while the caretaker-manager says that his players must focus on one game at a time, he admits the difficult calendar to come dictates what he does in the short term in terms of team selection.
“It has to. I’ve always been that way,” said Solskjaer on Friday. “I plan many, many weeks ahead but that is dependent on form, injuries, sickness.
“It might change if we lost that game or won that game, and I might make a different decision because you always leave it until the last day really.
“I’ve got a bit of a view on how the team will look against Chelsea, Liverpool, PSG but the closer you get to the Fulham game the more focused you are on just that one.
“The players just have to focus on the next one, and Fulham… that’s the character-revealer. The so-called big games, no problem, they’ll look after themselves.”
Solskjaer adds that if his side are to push for trophies then it will take some of his players to take on more senior roles in the side, particularly the likes of Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard.
“If you look at the players, the age of them, they’re young and they’ve got plenty of development in them, but we also need some experienced players to stay and step up and really become the leaders,” he continued.
“Paul now is, Jesse… they’re at that age where we expect them to take that responsibility and not just be a young boy that floats around.”
And the temporary boss says that he is confident that his side can finish in the top four of the Premier League despite the heavy workload to come.
“I’m very confident, they do show me they have the character, they have the belief and they have the quality to be improving. That’s what we have to think about, how we improve.”
After Fulham, United host PSG in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie on Tuesday at Old Trafford. They then head to Chelsea in the FA Cup on February 18 before welcoming Liverpool in the Premier League on February 24.
