Ole is the superest sub in Premiership history
The Guardian’s “The Knowledge” (ever a source of an interesting fact) has a special on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer asking Is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the superest sub ever?
And the result was yes, if you just could the Premiership and maybe, if you could all the other years (remember, for ages there were no subs, then just one).
Solskjaer has scored 17 league goals after coming off the bench, which puts him comfortably clear of Jermain Defoe, Kanu, Andy Cole and Tore Andre Flo, each of whom have 13. In all competitions, Solskjaer scored 29 of his 126 United goals from the bench. His first goal for United, in August 1996, came six minutes after he was introduced in a home match against Blackburn; spookily, his last goal for the club also came six minutes after he had come off the bench at home to Blackburn.
As an aside, does anyone have and hard stats on whether Solskjaer played mostly with Sheringham, or with Yorke and Cole. It seemed to be a case of start with Yorke and Cole (I wonder if Mr. Keane will be starting with Yorke and Cole together tomorrow?) and then if it didn’t work, try with Sheringham and Solskjaer (and vice virca in a squard rotation system that had 4 perfect strikers for it). The 1999 side had a pretty unique rotation system. The forwards rotated, but the starting midfield and defence picked itself unless injuries and suspension got in the way.
Popularity: 16% [?]