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Man Utd 4 Chelsea 0: Solskjaer’s perfect pre-season reaps rewards after last year’s miserable start
CONFIDENCE REBUILT in the sun of Perth and the Far East spilled over onto a dank day in Salford.
The misery that shrouded Old Trafford in the closing months of last season was blown away by this 4-0 win and performance against Chelsea.
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The ground work for it was done in pre-season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had a huge job on his hand lifting a squad that looked down and out as it slunk to a run of 2 wins in their final 12 games of the last campaign season, eight of those defeats.
The mood was awful on the pitch and in the stands.
As the team flew out to Australia last month Solskjaer set about changing that.
He can be tough and won’t take any nonsense. But he is also a good man manager who gave himself a mission to individually and collectively lifting these players up.
With a smile on his face he talked positively about the squad, bad apples like Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku were not there to bring everyone down.
Sanchez was given time off after the Copa America and Lukaku told to train separately.
CONFIDENCE AND IMPETUS
Meanwhile Paul Pogba got his head down and got on with it and impressed Solskjaer with his attitude against a backdrop of uncertainty after he claimed he needed a new challenge.
United won both games in Perth against Perth Glory and Leeds, one in Singapore against Inter Milan, and then against Tottenham in Shanghai. Morfe wins came in Norway against Kristiansund and then on penalties against AC Milan in Cardiff.
Most teams use pre-season just to get the players fitness up.
There was plenty of that too as Solskjaer believed they were not fit enough to play his high pressing game by the end of last season.
But more importantly he wanted to get some impetus back into the squad.
To remind them what winning was like again, to get back the confidence he first instilled into them when he took the reins from Jose Mourinho last December.
There was buckets of it yesterday as they repelled Chelsea attacks and capitalised on their own opportunities.
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New £80million buy Harry Maguire has already given the back four an air of authority.
Victory Lindelof looks a better play beside him while £50million full back Aaron Wan-Bissaka was stretching those spider legs to win tackles.
You could see the players enjoying football again.
When another new signing young Welsh winger Daniel James came on and got in on the act with the fourth goal Old Trafford was bouncing.
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The way the players huddled around each other after that goal next to a corner flag at The Stretford End projected the new confidence and determination.
It is just one game, but this was a big one for Solskjaer.
The momentum he created in the summer has not been lost.
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