Ole Gunnar Solskjaer slams his former ‘Gen Z’ Manchester United players in latest swipe

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has questioned the “lack of ambition” of the “petty, Gen Z” Manchester United players who were too scared to do pre-match interviews or accept the captaincy during his time as manager.

The former United manager also admitted that in hindsight the decision to sign Cristiano Ronaldo was a mistake and undermined the team’s ability to press and their style of play.

Solskjaer initially took charge on an interim basis in the wake of Jose Mourinho’s sacking in December 2018 before landing the job permanently.

He guided United to third and second-place finishes in his two full seasons in charge before being sacked in November 2021 after a dismal run of results.

Speaking to the Stick to Football podcast co-hosted by former United captain Gary Neville, Solskjaer offered an insight into the weaknesses of some of the characters in his Old Trafford dressing room.

“No one said ‘No’ to being the club captain, it was just for certain games – ‘I don’t want to be captain for this match’,” Solskjaer said.

‘It’s petty and shows a lack of ambition’

Solskjaer said it was “disappointing” those players would have other people relay that news to the manager. “They didn’t want to say it themselves, they had other people come up to me and say it,” he said. “It was disappointing. It’s a different generation, it’s Gen Z. It’s petty and shows a lack of ambition.”

Solskjaer also explained how some players were too petrified to even conduct basic pre-match interviews with broadcasters and revealed how they struggled to cope with criticism from pundits.

“Many players said no to doing the pre-match interviews, the three questions,” he said. “You had the go-tos, Bruno [Fernandes] always did it, Harry [Maguire] always did it, Victor [Lindelof] did it, David [de Gea] did it, Luke Shaw did it. The others were worried about the questions, so preferred not to do it.

“You’re scared of the whole reaction maybe, but you also understand some of the players’ mental health.”

On whether criticism from pundits and media affected his players, Solskjaer said: “Definitely, 100 per cent. You criticise players or teams’ tactics, but when it goes above that because there are so many who watch and listen and go on social media [it does have an impact]. If they don’t read it, friends, agents, managers will.

“When it gets personal, about character, they listen and think about it more than you think.”

‘If you have too many players, they get unhappy’

Solskjaer also criticised the dressing-room leaks and said it was partly a consequence of having too bloated a squad. “I felt we [coaching staff] had a very good rapport with the players, but there are always one or two in a squad that leak things because they are unhappy,” he said.

“Being a manager, you play a game Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, you sack about 14 players every game and the next morning you have to tell them they have another chance.

“There are only a certain amount of times you can say, ‘I’ll give you that game, you’ve got a chance’. In the end, they go sour, we had a big squad with too many players. If you have too many players, they get unhappy.”

Ronaldo rejoined United for £19.7 million amid much fanfare in August 2021 but Solskjaer admits the signing did not work out as planned, despite the player scoring 24 goals in his debut season.

The Portugal forward ended up leaving United in November 2022 after giving an explosive, unauthorised interview in which he took aim at Solskjaer’s permanent successor, Erik ten Hag, and the club in general.

“It didn’t work out for me, it didn’t work out for Cristiano, but it was the right decision at the time,” Solskjaer said.

“We started off straight away thinking how we are going to press and change the little tweaks.

“Cristiano is different to Anthony Martial who was up front, or whether we would play Mason [Greenwood] or Marcus [Rashford] up front. Edinson Cavani was the one that suffered the most when Cristiano came in – we’d played and got Edinson into a certain way of understanding the way we played.

“With the ball, with him in the team, it was no problem. Without him [pressing], we had to change a little bit the different roles we’d gotten used to. We were one of the highest-pressing teams before [Ronaldo joined]. We let Dan James go when Cristiano came in, and they’re two different types of players.

“Part of signing Cristiano Ronaldo was getting that passion from him, but that did have its complications.

“You’ve got Greenwood, Martial and Rashford who can learn from Cristiano as he’s the best, the most disciplined and he’s been the best player in the world, and you think he’s going to help them.

“When he arrived at the club, he told me to start him for three games in a row, and then put me on the bench for the fourth game, but he’s so passionate so when I did that, he didn’t like it.”

Solskjaer has also disclosed the reasons behind the decision to award the captaincy to Maguire over Fernandes, who has since succeeded the England defender as United captain.

“I knew Bruno Fernandes had captain qualities when I was manager at Manchester United,” he said. “He’s got the personality and quality, but he knows and I’ve told him that he’s too passionate at times and he loses a bit of control.

“I loved Harry Maguire as a captain, he was the leader in that group for me when I was at the club.”