Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expects to be treated like any other manager when his former Manchester United team-mates in the media are assessing his tenure as caretaker boss.
The ex-United striker has been put in charge until the end of the season following the sacking last week of Jose Mourinho.
A number of Solskjaer’s former team-mates were among Mourinho’s most outspoken critics, but the Norwegian will not baulk at comments made by the likes of Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville.
“Don’t worry, Gary will be really hard on me,” he said, smiling. “I sat next to him in the dressing room for 11 years. He was next to me and you know Gary!
“He’s paid now to give his opinion and of course he should do. I’m no different to anyone else.
“I’m no different to any other manager when you lead that team out onto the pitch. It comes with a responsibility but my job is to get the players enjoying themselves.”
There was no need to worry about negative comments at Cardiff as United played with style and purpose – perhaps even raising expectations of what Solskjaer can he achieved.
“You can never set the bar too high,” he said. “They’re setting the standard.
“The players who play for this club have high standards to live up to.
“At Cardiff, it’s not like they were outperforming themselves.
“We want to look at this game. We’ll evaluate, look at a few clips and as I said earlier we can better, we can understand each other better.”
Few expect the air of positivity at United to dissipate on Boxing Day, when Solskjaer will be welcomed by the ’20LEGEND’ banner that has been put back up at Old Trafford.
“They’re the best fans in the world,” he added. “Of course, I have my history at the club and to see that banner is special.
“I just hope in the next five months I’ll do a good enough job for them to keep singing my name.”