Solskjaer: ‘Some players were scared of interviews, others refused to be captain. It’s disappointing, it’s Gen Z’

“Many players said no to doing the pre-match interviews, the three questions,” said Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, quoted by the Daily Star, during his interview on Sky Sports’ podcast.

“You had the go-to’s, Bruno [Fernandes] always did it, Harry [Maguire] always did it, Victor [Lindelof] did it, David [De Gea] did it, Luke Shaw did it.

“The others were worried about the questions, so preferred not to do it.

“You’re scared of the whole reaction maybe, but you also understand some of the players’ mental health.”

The former Manchester United manager and player also revealed not many wanted to be captain during games.

Ole added: “No one said ‘No’ to being the club captain, it was just for certain games.

“But they didn’t want to say it themselves, they had other people come up to me and say it. It was disappointing.

“It’s a different generation, it’s Gen Z. It’s petty and shows a lack of ambition.”

There seems to be a collective lack of responsibility – be it giving interviews, donning the captain’s armband or just performing day in and day out.

Towards the end of Solskjaer’s tenure, the Norwegian was blamed for everything. Now that similar issues continue under Erik ten Hag, fingers will point more at the squad.