Date published: Monday 28th September 2020 10:34
Rafael insists Ole Gunnar Solskjaer “does not want to kill” Man Utd after recent criticism of his managerial performance.
Solskjaer brought Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Bruno Fernandes to Old Trafford during his first full season in charge, while the Norwegian guided them to a third-place finish in the Premier League.
The Red Devils have Champions League football to look forward to this season but their lack of signings – with Donny van de Beek their only acquisition of the summer window – and poor performances are starting to cause alarm among some of their fans on social media.
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Man Utd opened the season with a 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace last weekend before they snatched a late 3-2 victory over Brighton, leaving pundits and supporters less than impressed.
However, Rafael has urged critics to lay off Solskjaer and thinks there transfer policy of not buying “for buying’s sake” will reap rewards eventually.
“Now it is better than before,” Rafael told The Athletic.
“But there are still some games where you watch and think, ‘f**king hell — what’s happened?’ Even the first game of the season, you sit and say, ‘f**king hell,’ but it is the first game. If Ferguson, after everything he won, lost the first game of a season, people would talk but not in the same way.
“Now it (the reaction) is all, ‘everything is sh*t, we need to change the coach.’ It is all a bit harsh. It is the first game – relax. Of course, we need to get better. People don’t care if the players only had one pre-season game to prepare. They just say, ‘Ole out, fuc*ing kell, why don’t you buy these players?’
“That’s what I don’t understand. Of course, we need some players but last season, we finished winning nearly every game. The team was growing together. Now, you listen to people and it is as though if we don’t buy players, we will lose every game.
“I want United to be back winning again. I like Ole and the way he works. I am not saying he is the best manager in the world but he is doing his job in a way it used to be done before.
“I know a lot of supporters will not agree with me about this but people need to know that Ole does not want to kill Manchester United. He wants to buy players but in the right way. He does not want to buy just for buying’s sake, like we did for five or six years.”