Sir Alex Ferguson’s half-time talk: A revisit to United’s memorable 5-3 victory over Tottenham in 2001, where Solskjaer was subbed-on at a rather concerning situation.
Manchester United will take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League later tonight at Wembley Stadium. The side will look to continue on their winning run under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Ever since his appointment at Old Trafford last month, the Norwegian is yet to drop points in the league. He also became the first manager in the history of Football League to win his first five games with a margin of two goals.
However, Tottenham arrives as a first big test for Solskjaer, and he’ll aim to stop the high-flying Pochettino’s side, who are third in the table.
As we build-up for the game, here’s a quick revisit to Manchester United’s memorable 5-3 win over Tottenham, where Sir Alex Ferguson’s side came from 0-3 down at halftime.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s half-time talk:
Manchester United received early setbacks at the White Hart Lane in the game in 2001, which saw the side trailing 0-3 at halftime.
Dean Richards, Les Ferdinand and Christian Ziege were among the goalscorers as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side was on the brink of defeat. As the players headed down towards the tunnel with the inevitability of a hairdryer in the air, the former boss surprised everyone with his reaction.
“As they traipsed into the dressing room, three goals down, the players were braced for a rollicking,” Sir Alex Ferguson wrote in his book.
Most Premier League wins in the history of the competition:
Man Utd (629)
Arsenal (544)
Chelsea (537)
Sir Alex Ferguson (528)
Liverpool (499)
Arsene Wenger (476)
Tottenham (423) pic.twitter.com/ikMPzK3mRa— Squawka Football (@Squawka) May 13, 2018
“Instead I sat down and said: ‘Right, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to score the first goal in this second half and see where it takes us. We get at them right away, and we get the first goal.”
He also stated that United’s former star Teddy Sherringham, who joined Tottenham in the same season, told his team to “not let United get an early goal.”
“Teddy [Sheringham, the former United striker] was the Tottenham captain and, as the teams emerged back into the corridor, I saw Teddy stop and say: ‘Now, don’t let them get an early goal.’ We scored in the first minute,” recalled Sir Alex.
Andy Cole, who scored the first goal in the famous comeback victory, stated that it was one of his favourite games.
Roy Keane on Sir Alex team talk:
“It was Tottenham at home. I thought, ‘please don’t go on about Tottenham, we all know what Tottenham is about, they are nice and tidy but we’ll f****** do them’. He came in and said: ‘Lads, it’s Tottenham.’ And that was it. Brilliant.” pic.twitter.com/s65qAqADMF
— Manchester United (@ManUnitedWorld) April 21, 2018
“To go 3-0 down and we came in at half-time and I remember the manager [Sir Alex Ferguson] not saying a word for 15 minutes. Then, once the bell went, he said: ‘Okay, you’d better go out there and win the game.
“We did that and it’s one of my favourite games. People remember me for the goal in 1999 but the 5-3 was fantastic, to come back from 3-0 down.”
