Solskjaer yearning for first trophy

LONDON • Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hopes to get his hands on the League Cup so that it will serve as a stepping stone to winning more trophies in the future.

Since being appointed in December 2018, the Red Devils have come close to winning silverware, reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup, FA Cup and the Europa League last season.

The 2016-17 season when United won the double of the League Cup and Europa League remains the last time the club tasted success and with Solskjaer also yet to lift a major trophy in England as a manager, he is eager to bring back the glory days to Old Trafford.

"We are desperate to get our hands on a trophy, these players are desperate to learn how to win," he told reporters at his virtual pre-match press conference ahead of today's League Cup quarter-final at Everton.

"We want to improve every season and to improve on last year is to get to the final and, of course, when you get to the final, there's only one thing that matters and that's to lift the trophy."

Recalling how some of the club's recent greats found success after first lifting the League Cup in 2006, he said: "I remember winning my first trophy (the 1996-97 Premier League title).

"Even towards the end of my career, I think it was Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic's first trophy in the (2006) Carling Cup. I think that was their first trophy and it does give something to a team."

But with an arguably more important top-flight game coming just three days later at Leicester, where United can leapfrog their opponents into second place with a victory, Solskjaer will have to shuffle the pack.

The Norwegian will bring back Mason Greenwood, who was left on the bench during their 6-2 rout of Leeds on Sunday, while Jesse Lingard will return to the squad for the first time since September.

The 28-year-old has only featured twice in the League Cup this season as he has reportedly been out of favour on top of being forced to self-isolate after coming into close contact with those who tested positive for Covid-19.

However, Solskjaer will give Lingard a chance at Goodison Park, saying: "He's been working hard in training. He's been unfortunate with having to isolate a few times, been in contact, or close contact with Covid, not even having it himself. He's been very unlucky being away from the training ground a few times... he'll be involved in the squad, definitely, on Wednesday."

2017 When Manchester United last won a trophy, picking up the League Cup and Europa League in the same year.

While United's trophy drought goes back three years, it has been 25 years since Everton last claimed silverware.

Long starved of success, Toffees manager Carlo Ancelotti vowed to field his strongest possible side. James Rodriguez, Allan, Lucas Digne, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Andre Gomes and Fabian Delph are all out but their absentee list has not derailed their push in the league, sitting in fourth below United only on goal difference.

Urging his team to carry over their form into the League Cup, Ancelotti said yesterday: "We give a lot of importance to this competition. Everton never won it. We are two games from the final so it would be fantastic to play a final if possible."

REUTERS

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