Man United take on cross-town rivals Man City in the Premier League this weekend and right before the match, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has chosen to take a cheeky dig at Pep Guardiola’s side.
Ole joined Man United in 1996 but he got to play his first Manchester Derby in 2001 because the “noisy neighbours” gained promotion to the top flight in the 1999-2000 season.
And when the Man United manager was asked about the changes he’s seen in the Manchester Derby, the Norwegian made sure he brought up this point.
“At least we play every year now,” he told the reporters.
“[It] took many years before I played a Manchester derby myself [in 2001]. Man City are a better team now than when I was playing [and] football has changed quite a lot.
“Then a few more proper tackles were allowed, without every little angle, everything being scrutinised. Now it’s more of a technical, tactical game than physical/mental. A derby should be played as a derby; we don’t play basketball and we’re ready if that happens.
“We’re going away against arguably the best team in England. It will be a difficult game but we need consistency.
“Before everyone was doom and gloom but it’s a chance to turn that doubt into belief and if we can manage to get another performance, the confidence, the way we played against Tottenham, then we can come out of it with a result.”
Man City will undoubtedly go into this match as the favourites, more so since they will be playing at home but under Solskjaer, Man United have made it a had to play some of their best football against the bigger sides.
United managed to hold Liverpool to a draw earlier this season – the only team to take off points from the league leaders so far, and in midweek too, they were superb against Tottenham.
So naturally, the Man United players will go into Saturday’s game thinking they can cause an upset, thereby throwing City off the title race.
