Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has it wrong with his comments ahead of Liverpool v Manchester United. The United boss believes the teams are on level footing.
Bet you didn’t know Liverpool were in an injury crisis. Or maybe you did, given it’s all anyone has been writing about since mid-October.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appears to have missed the reports, though. He certainly doesn’t have the details down.
“Well we have as many injuries as [Liverpool]!” said Solskjaer, per the Liverpool Echo.
“That is just how football is. I will give everyone tomorrow to prove their fitness. Couple of knocks we got at Burnley that I’m not sure about.
“I am going to give everyone a chance. Anthony [Martial] is not out of it.
“Only ones certainly out are Brandon [Williams] and Phil Jones – they are the two definitely can’t make the game.
“Others maybe doubts, but fingers crossed.”
We thought Jurgen Klopp was performing a miracle when he got Liverpool to the top of the league with all his injuries. Yet here is Solskjaer pulling it off with a similar injury crisis.
Long-term injuries to his 3rd-choice left-back and 4th-choice centre-half – we know how you feel, Ole. We’ve been there.
When Virgil van Dijk underwent knee surgery that almost certainly ruled him out for the season, we all thought “Wow, now we know how United feel with Phil Jones out”.
Similarly, there are comparisons to be drawn between the injury to Joe Gomez (starting centre-half) and the one to Brandon Williams (six minutes of Premier League football).
And then there’s the Martial injury! Sure, he may not miss a single game and played on Wednesday but how is that any different to Diogo Jota being out for a month and definitely not playing on Sunday?
This entire article has likely been annoyingly sarcastic but we’re just trying to highlight how ridiculous Solskjaer sounds with this wrong assessment of Liverpool.
Just as many injuries? You’ve named two, neither of whom would play even if they were fit. Liverpool have Van Dijk, Gomez, Jota and Naby Keita all missing – all of whom could or would feature. Kostas Tskimikas is missing, too, while Joel Matip is a massive doubt after missing the last two games.
Not only is it a ridiculous suggestion, it’s just plain wrong. At least when Jose Mourinho downplayed the injuries, he was clearly playing mindgames.
We’re not sure what Solskjaer is trying here – but it doesn’t even make sense.
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