OLE: WE HAVE TO STICK TO OUR PRINCIPLES

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has given a rare insight into the factors that determine his tactical set-up for a match.

For the majority of the season, the boss has tended to operate with a 4-2-3-1 shape or a 3-5-2 formation, and it was the latter he opted for during Sunday’s 3-1 Emirates FA Cup semi-final defeat against Chelsea.

Ole will again be pondering what system to deploy in our next game, against West Ham United on Wednesday. Ahead of that crucial Premier League encounter, the boss explained how much of his tactics are determined by the opposition and how much they’re defined by his own footballing philosophy.

“We stick to our principles and we play the way we want to play,” Solskjaer said via video link in his pre-match press conference.

“We’ve had two formations and it’s still the same style that we want to play. When we think about the next game it’s 90/10 [determined by] ourselves, but you have to pay respect to any opposition.

“I think the first half, in the semi, it showed two teams knowing a lot about each other, having lots of respect for each other and it was decided on a bad time: just before and after half-time. For me, I always pay respect to the opposition, but the majority of my thinking is on how are we going to play and sticking with our style.

With the transfer window opening next week, Ole was also asked about his plans to bring any new additions into the squad.

“Well, there are two games left of the season,” he responded. “We’ve been playing non-stop since the restart. We’ve enjoyed it - most of the players have had a chance; most of them have done well, so I’m very happy with the squad.

“It’s just that feel that we’ve got great momentum and we didn’t get any injuries, so we played, more or less, the same team and they performed really well.

“But as a club, we’re always looking to promote kids and adding players that are better than our squad. Let’s just focus on these two first.

“Every decision is a big one here, at this club,” he added. “You just have to do what is right for the team and the club. We’ll do that on Wednesday and Sunday and when the season is over we’ll make more decisions.”