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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer responds to Jose Mourinho criticism after Man Utd defeat to West Ham

Published

5 years ago

September 22, 2019

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has refused to get into a slagging match with Jose Mourinho and says the Portuguese coach is entitled to his opinion after he slammed Manchester United’s display against West Ham.

The former Old Trafford boss, who was axed last season and replaced by Solskjaer, claims he ‘doesn’t see any improvement’ from the team he managed and says there were no positives for the side to take from Sunday’s defeat. United were soundly beaten 2-0 at the London Stadium, but Solskjaer felt the game could have gone either way and disagreed with Mourinho’s gloomy outlook.

Asked about Mourinho’s remarks, he told reporters: ‘Well I think he’s got a right to his opinion. Of course we lost here last year, it’s always a difficult ground to go to and we hope we should do better than we did. We hope for better. ‘But the key moments, they grasped and we didn’t, I have to say. Two fantastic finishes from two good left feet and we just didn’t take the chances when we had them.’

Asked if the side played with enough pace, Solskjaer continued: ‘We didn’t create enough chances, but we created big chances, some big moments that we didn’t take, and they scored on theirs. ‘They didn’t create too many either. It’s a game that could have gone both ways and when you’ve got Marcus Rashford and Dan James, I don’t think pace is the problem?’

After defeat at West Ham, United have not won an away match since February

He added: ‘It’s a good group to work with, they’re determined. This is not… sometimes along the road you’re going to hit some bumps, as we’ve said, some highs and low. ‘This group was out there, determined, they showed a desire, we wanna get out, it was a good atmosphere in the dressing room, and they’ve got their focus right.