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Fabrizio Tabone

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: I know the DNA and identity of Manchester United

Solskjaer's appointment at Manchester United has been a success story so far, but it was not always plain sailing for the Norwegian in the Premier League.

Solskjaer was first appointed by Cardiff City back in January 2014, as the Bluebirds were fighting relegation. However, the Bluebirds were relegated and endured a tough start in the Championship, leading to Solskjaer being sacked by September 2014.

Things are completely different nowadays, after he returned to Manchester United after managerial spells at Cardiff and Molde. Ever since he replaced Jose Mourinho, Solskjaer has remained unbeaten in 10 fixtures, winning seven matches in the league, drawing one, and also winning two FA Cup ties.

Solskjaer has since admitted that joining Cardiff "wasn't the right decision, to be fair. But you live and learn." He feels much more suited to the Manchester United role, as he knows the identity of the club, having played there under Sir Alex Ferguson for 11 years, during the glory days of the club, scoring the winner in the Champions League final during the infamous treble-winning season of 1999.

Solskjaer knows what it means to be at the club, saying that the club's identity is "a winning identity. It's a confident identity", and has since proved this to be the case, after failing to win only one match so far. Even the match that they managed to draw, at home against Burnley, turned out to be an exciting fixture, after Manchester United were 2-0 down, and they managed to score two goals in the final 10 minutes of the match to level things up.

We all knew that Solskjaer would bring back the attacking identity to Manchester United, but the playing style has also ensured that the team has a resolute defence as well, with the team under the Norwegian's reign only conceding 0.8 goals per match, in contrast to the 1.7 goals conceded every match under Jose Mourinho this season. The players seem to want to work more, and are clearly satisfied with the change in management, especially Paul Pogba, who has scored six goals and assisted five more, ever since Solskjaer came to the club.

Manchester United have closed the 11-point gap between them and Arsenal, and have even gone to overtake them by a point, and are now just two points below the Top 4. Ever since Solskjaer was appointed, Manchester United have taken the most points out of all of the sides in the league, and plenty of sides seem to be stumbling in the process, with Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal all dropping precious points, whilst Manchester United have picked up 22 points from a possible 24.

The Norwegian seems determined to land the role as permanent manager of the club, even though he may not admit it, after he was spotted scouting PSG during the French champions' league fixture against Olympique Lyon on Sunday with Mike Phelan, just a few hours after guiding his side to a hard-fought victory over Leicester City in the league.

Solskjaer may have given an outstanding audition for the job so far, but reports about the potential arrival of either Mauricio Pochettino or Zinedine Zidane continue to fill the headlines.

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