Ole Gunnar Solskjær's post-match comments: Anthony Martial, poor goals conceded & failure to bounce back

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spoke to the media following his side’s shock 2-1 defeat at home to Sheffield United.

By Jacob Hackett29 January 2021 11:17 BST

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Manager of Manchester United reacts during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Sheffield United at Old Trafford on January 27, 2021 in Manchester, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Tim Keeton -

Manchester United’s title challenge suffered a blow on Wednesday evening as they suffered defeat at the hands of bottom of the league Sheffield United.

Kean Bryan opened the scoring for the visitors in the first half, heading home from a corner. David De Gea had attempted to punch the ball away, but miscued, leaving the Blades defender free to score.

United then pulled level through a corner of their own. Harry Maguire’s thumping effort left goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale, routed to the spot in the 64th minute - a potential comeback was on the cards.

Ten minutes later, however, Oliver Burke had reinstated the away team’s lead. The Red Devils defence failed to clear their lines before former RB Leipzig man, Burke, took aim. His shot deflected off Axel Tuanzebe, fooling De Gea, and proved to seal all three points for the Yorkshire club.

• Solskjaer’s thoughts.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spoke to MUTV and BT Sports following the disappointing result.

When asked about Anthony Martial’s poor form, he said:

“Well, I think the whole team will probably get criticism tonight, and myself as well. I don't think Anthony is exempt from that. We all should be criticised because we didn't perform. I know Anto, he's been working really hard in training, working on his finishing, working on his movement, so I've got no doubts that he will come good.”

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The Norwegian then spoke about conceding two poor goals on the evening:

“Disappointing. Well below par, of course, we started okay but then conceded the goal from maybe the first attack, a corner-kick. We had all the possession but when you concede two bad goals it is always going to be difficult. We didn’t create enough. We put pressure on them but we couldn’t penetrate enough in behind them and create big enough chances to score enough goals.”

The United boss was then questioned regarding his team’s inability to produce a comeback:

“It wasn’t to be. We felt the momentum was going our way as we dominated possession, dominated territory but couldn’t create big enough chances. If you don’t when you play against teams in the Premier League, you can get punished and it was a sloppy goal, a very sloppy goal to concede. The second goal we conceded was just so poor. So sloppy. We lost the ball so easily. We get back into position but then we just stopped getting out to the ball. Absolutely three or four decisions there that were completely out of character. That is maybe down to the season it is as well.”