Solskjaer shuts down Lukaku questioning

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer TEAMtalk

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer refused to get fully embroiled in the Romelu Lukaku furore at Friday’s Manchester United press conference.

Lukaku, 26, ended his two-season stint at Old Trafford on transfer deadline day, joining Inter Milan in a £73.75million deal and in a podcast which was released this week he cricticised United fans.

Solskajer was asked about Lukaku’s comments ahead of Saturday’s date with Crystal Palace, but he refused to get into the debate, although he did suggest that the interview was done while the striker was still at Manchester United.

“Lukaku? I’m not going to dive into that one. That interview was made before this summer wasn’t it? When he was a Man Utd player. I would rather not,” said Solskjaer.

Lukaku came in for some criticism over his two seasons with the Red Devils – none more so than for his bulky physique – despite his decent goal record of 42 goals in 96 appearances for the club.

In the podcast, which was apparently recorded before he move to Inter, Lukaku said United supporters always ‘had to find the culprit’ during his time at Old Trafford.

 

“They have to find somebody,” Lukaku told the LightHarted Podcast. “It is [Paul] Pogba, it is me or it is Alexis [Sanchez]. It’s the three of us all the time.

“They have got to find somebody to blame. I put my hand up, like, this year I don’t think I was the only one playing bad. A lot of people were playing bad but they had to find the culprit.

“If they want to put the blame on me, you know what, f**k it, do what you gotta do.

“I think the team has so much potential to do some great stuff. There is a lot of talent. But it is not only talent; you really have to build a team.”

Asked about Saturday’s game against Palace, Solskjaer said: “It’s gonna be a tough game as all these games in the Premier League are, every single one they give you a different challenge and of course they’re a very well organised team, they’ve pace up front, good counter attacks, big on set pieces and we have to do all parts of the game, have to attack well, win the ball back when we lose it and we’ve got to be strong on set plays.

After last season’s draw with Palace, Solskjaer added: “I didn’t watch the game last year, we had a game ourselves with Molde but I heard they had a few counter attacks, Wilf (Zaha) was close to scoring, team spirit great, we’ve got loads of energy and passion, you can see the way we went about the game at Wolves our pressing was excellent.

“We gave them five mins in the second half that was it really apart from that… the engine looks so much better, and everyone is fit, when you’re fit you’re mentally strong as well.”