Solskjaer trying to inject winning mentality into United, says Brown

Wes Brown believes Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is trying to inject a winning mentality into Manchester United and sees Europa League as a crucial next step.

Solskjaer led Manchester United to a solid third-place finish in the Premier League and now hopes to wrap the season up by winning the Europa League title.

United, who lost in the EFL and FA Cup semi-finals this term, will hope third time is the charm when they meet Sevilla in Germany this Sunday.

Solskjaer has already warned the squad that reaching the last four isn’t good enough as he seeks to win his first trophy as the Red Devils boss.

“If you were to say they were going to finish third, you probably wouldn’t have thought that would happen,” said Brown, according to the Independent.

“I think that’s credit to the manager, the players he’s bought and the lads because they’ve had a really good run. They’ve not lost many games.

“I think the lads even know we can all play better but they’ve managed to win, get that winning mentality and not lose games, which I think is really good and that’s why they’ve been in the position they have been.

“Three semi-finals. It’ll be good for him to win this one and get to a final and then hopefully get a trophy for the season – that will top it off as a really good season. But obviously you want to get back to fighting for that Premier League and that’s where we want to be.”

Brown, who was part of the famous treble-winning squad of 1998/99 alongside Solskjaer, believes Europa League glory is a crucial next step for United.

The former defender added: “A club like Manchester United deserve to win and at the moment it’s going well and it’s important that they do win the semi-final now and get to the final and win it.

“When I came through, the expectations were high. You learn that very quick. There’s games when you can play bad and you know in yourself you need a higher expectation and that you need to play better.

“But I think that’s coming, I think the lads are starting to understand that. And it takes time, but at the same time I think they’ve done well in that sense where they’ve had the mentality not to lose.

“They’ve gone on a really good run. Defence being strong and I still think obviously we can play better as well. But he has to start somewhere and I think they’re sort of getting it.”