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SOLSKJAER:
"Just let me Start"
It was meant as the ultimate
compliment, but there was little about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's demeanour
to suggest it had been received that way. Sir Alex Ferguson was
reflecting on the drama of another decisive late strike from Solskjaer,
just six minutes after replacing Dwight Yorke against Charlton on
Tuesday, when he delivered the unsolicited accolade that his Norway
front-runner was 'the best substitute ever'. 'I don't want to be
known as just the best-ever substitute,' countered Solskjaer - more
in hope than genuine expectation. 'I just hope my goal might have
done me some good when the manager gets round to picking the team
for Munich.'
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Few
have dared challenge the United manager's word, whatever the subject,
and he was surely safe from dissenting voices over Solskjaer's priceless
knack for transforming a walk-on part into star billing. Particularly
after the injury-time winner in the Champions League final two years
ago that left some of Europe's most cynical, battle-hardened performers
glassy-eyed and took pride of place in an impressive collection
of match-defining cameos by the 28-year-old. Ferguson has nothing
but admiration for his prolific marksman's persistence and professionalism
and will doubtless volunteer more eulogies, should the heroics be
repeated once more when hostilities are resumed with 1999 finalists
Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium next week. Whether Solskjaer
will be quite so enamoured remains to be seen.
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With
Ferguson increasingly leaning towards the view that Solskjaer's
stealth and awareness near goal might be best employed from the
bench in the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final,
he has been confronted with the first rumblings of discontent from
the former Molde striker. Solskjaer fears his continuing presence
on the fringes could allow Valencia's John Carew to dislodge him
from Norway's starting line-up. As Ferguson pondered his strategy
for overturning a 1-0 deficit in Munich, the permutations were further
complicated by an impassioned plea from Solskjaer to end his days
as a bit-part player.For all the evidence that he is at his most
effective entering the fray late on - a theory given extra substance
by a lightweight 90 minutes in the first leg against Bayern - the
normally unobtrusive Solskjaer was having none of it as he reflected
on one of United's more delicate selection matters. He said: 'It
is not the greatest feeling being on the bench all the time, and
I want to play from the start in as many games as possible. .
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