Some accused Jose Mourinho of being too negative in his time as Manchester United manager, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has already ruled his side out of next season’s Premier League title race.
That’s despite the Red Devils still having one match to go this term, and with an entire summer transfer window ahead to sort their squad out.
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Solskjaer was beaming with positivity when he first took the United job as caretaker boss, lifting the mood and the performances at Old Trafford.
However, the Norwegian has endured a very tough start since taking the job permanently, with the club on a dire run of just two wins from their last eleven games in all competitions.
Perhaps he’s wise to be cautious, in that case, but many Man Utd fans won’t be too impressed with Solskjaer already making such a big call about next season.
In fact, instead of focusing on catching Manchester City and Liverpool, Solskjaer hints in his quotes below that fighting off the challenge of clubs like Leicester, Everton, Newcastle and Watford might be the bigger priority for the club next season.
It is not realistic,” Solskjaer said on a title challenge for next season, as quoted by Goal.
“Of course I’m an optimist but I don’t think that’s realistic, because the two teams now at the top of the table they are far ahead of the chasing pack.
“We have to make sure that we are getting closer and moving that way up the table and not looking over the shoulders because there are big clubs, good clubs wanting to chase that top six.
“You’ve got Leicester, Everton, Watford, probably Newcastle, you’ve got clubs that want to chase us. We have to make sure that we are ones who chase those ahead of us.”