Arsenal legend Ian Wright has praised Ole Solskjaer for turning around the fortunes of Manchester United duo Luke Shaw and Eric Bailly.
According to Ian Wright, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer deserves praise for transforming the defensive pair Eric Bailly and Luke Shaw.
From starting the season poorly, the Red Devils currently find themselves as title contenders as they sit top of the Premier League.
Since taking over from Jose Mourinho in 2018, Solskjaer can take some credit for showing good man-management skills.
Paul Pogba is the perfect reference that does justice to the above statement.
In a similar fashion, Shaw and Bailly struggled for opportunities under Mourinho and looked out of place. The former even got public criticism from the Portuguese manager who claimed he wasn’t ‘good enough’.
Solskjaer has made the pair a part of his back four in the last month and has reaped the rewards of that faith.
United have conceded just two in their last five league games as they continue their push for a first league title since 2013.
Shaw in particular has barely put in a wrong foot of late and is one of the most consistent left-backs in the league as it stands. Ian Wright is pleased with how Solskjaer has handled the players who once struggled for form.
Wright told Optus Sport: “What’s happening is the top players are showing their mettle now. [Paul] Pogba doesn’t need too much space and time to score that goal, Bruno Fernandes can come alive in a couple of minutes and win that goal.”
“I think you have to look at their defence, their defence is very solid now.”
“Luke Shaw has to get some form of flowers, simply because of the way he’s transformed himself with everything that’s happened to him, from 2015 when he had the double fracture and struggled with his fitness. Mourinho didn’t help him in that time.”
“What we’ve seen with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, which he has to get the maximum amount of respect for, is his man-management of this team.”
In fact, Ian Wright believes Luke Shaw is already putting himself in contention for a first-team berth with England.
“The way this team is playing, Luke Shaw and his re-emergence to being a top player and he’s probably getting himself in the conversation for England now.
“I love the transformation of Eric Bailly and then you can just leave it to them guys up front, [Edinson] Cavani in there.”
“It’s starting to look like a Man United side that – if they can start a lot quicker in games which doesn’t seem to bother them anyway because they come back – they’re gonna be amongst it, without a shadow of a doubt.”
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