As featured on NewsNow: Football news

Man Utd hero Ince criticises Solskjaer for penalty farce: Make it crystal clear!

Manchester United legend Paul Ince has urged Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to follow Sir Alex Ferguson's penalty taker plan.

Solskjaer admitted he had two penalty takers after Paul Pogba missed a spot-kick in Monday's 1-1 draw with Wolves, with Marcus Rashford scoring the week prior against Chelsea.

"It comes down to Ole," Ince told Paddy Power. "He should be making it crystal clear that there is one penalty-taker, and that's it. He needs to show his leadership – and tell the players that it's the end of the theatricals, there's one person only for the job.

"In my time at Man United, if there was a penalty, Eric Cantona was taking it and that was that. There was no room for debate, no arguing between players, no drama – Cantona takes it, full stop.

"It didn't matter if he'd missed the previous one or whatever, he was the man that would be taking the penalty.

"When Cantona wasn't there, Dennis Irwin used to take penalties, but unless Cantona had specifically asked Sir Alex Ferguson or Bryan Robson not to take them, he was going to. It meant that we always knew, and it was always clear who would be on spot-kicks.

"It stops all the Oscar-winning theatrics and dramatics that we saw during the Wolves game. The issue is it never should have been a case of either of them two can take it, of course they both wanted to, they want the goal and the glory.

"So, it's down to Ole's management. He should be making it perfectly clear before they go on the pitch, he should be saying: 'If there's a penalty, Rashford you're taking it. If you're not on the pitch – it's Pogba, and so on.' There's a list of order there, it makes it transparent, and there's none of this bickering about who scored when and who missed, it leaves no room for debate."

Video of the day:

About the author

Freddie Taylor

×

Subscribe and go ad-free

For only $10 a year

  1. Go Ad-Free
  2. Faster site experience
  3. Support great writing
  4. Subscribe now
Launch Offer: 2 months free
×

Subscribe and go ad-free

For only $10 a year

Subscribe now
Launch Offer: 2 months free