Ahead of the Manchester derby, Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said his team won’t repeat the mistake of the last derby that cost the Red Devils a shot at the Carabao Cup.
He admitted that United lost their heads for 15 minutes during their chastening Carabao Cup loss to Manchester City at Old Trafford.
United host City in the 182nd derby, having twice won at the Etihad this term.
Yet in the January meeting on home soil, Solskjaer’s men struggled to deal with their visitors, overrun in midfield as City went without a recognised centre-forward, and found themselves 3-0 down at half-time.
However, emboldened following the arrival of Bruno Fernandes, United are unbeaten in seven matches, and face City full of confidence after a number of convincing recent victories, and having conceded just twice in their last eight games.
City themselves arrive in good form and will be full of confidence, but Solskjaer insists his side have learned from past mistakes.
“We were played off the park for 15 minutes,” admitted Solskjaer. “Our heads went for a spell, thinking that we had to recover the game in 10 minutes when you don’t have to.
“We have learnt from that one, definitely.
“I don’t know how [City] will feel. They’ll feel confident. They’ve hit form, they’re playing well. They’ve just been at the Bernabeu winning there, they’ve won the cup final, so I’m sure they’ll come confident.
“They’ll play their own game, we’ll play our game and hopefully it’ll be a good one. Let’s hope it’s a 4-3 like we’ve seen before. There have been many classics so we’ll do what we can to make it a classic.
“When you are at home and have to open up against a team like Man City, they will exploit that if you are not 100 percent. And sometimes being at home you want to show your fans what you can do and you open too many spaces.
“And that’s what we did in those 15 or 20 or however many minutes after they scored a world. Before then, it wasn’t a problem, before Bernardo scored in the top corner. It wasn’t an issue until our heads went for a little while.
“So we have got to control our emotions more. And we have learnt, so that is an experience we will bring into this game.”
Solskjaer’s latest meeting with Guardiola will be their third already in 2020, and their fourth of the season.
There could potentially be a fifth in the FA Cup, should each side navigate their way through their respective quarter-finals.
Amid such familiarity between the two teams, United will forego their usual video session in the next 48 hours. But Solskjaer insists his team will be ready to deal with any tactical changes by the City boss.
“There’s not going to be any video (session) on Friday or Saturday because we’ve played them so many times. I think it helps.
“We want to play. My team is still developing, our team is still developing and you want to play against the best.
“We need to learn and they’ve been the best the last few seasons. For us it’s a great challenge.
“I’m sure we have an element of surprise, that’s not an issue. So has he (Pep Guardiola). Everyone has watched Man City quite a few times and we have to be ready for whatever they throw at us.”
