Home » Ole Gunnar Solskjaer talks about his Manchester United side’s biggest flaw

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer talks about his Manchester United side’s biggest flaw

by Scott Eckersley

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted that his Manchester United side struggled to deal with West Ham’s low-block during last night’s disappointing Carabao Cup defeat.

United started sluggishly and deservedly fell behind to an early close-range strike from Manuel Lanzini.

Although the Reds went on to dominate possession, they struggled to carve out openings and were largely limited to half-chances and long-range attempts.

And, as covered by The MEN, Solskjaer candidly discussed the side’s lack of penetration during his post-match interview with MUTV.

He said: “Poor start, then some good bits, then towards the end when we went gung-ho we open ourselves up and, of course, they could have scored more.

“I thought when we were patient and ran and we tried to probe through the middle, we created some chances.

“We are not great when we play against a low-block and just sling crosses in because we’re not that type of team, we didn’t have them types of players.

“So, we tried to play round them, through them, get in behind them but we did not create enough big chances.”

It was the kind of inert display that seems to have become a worryingly familiar trademark of the Norwegian’s time as United manager.

Fans have regularly criticised the side’s inability to switch play quickly enough to destabilise deep-lying defences.

The lack of quality midfield options and forward runners have also been regularly touted as contributing factors.

It’s a recurring problem that has seen United drop vital points in winnable games across the entirety of Solskjaer’s three-year tenure.

Although last night could be partly explained by the absence of some first-team regulars, it remains a major concern that transcends personnel.

However, there’s some encouragement to be drawn from Solskjaer himself acknowledging the flaw so openly.

It’s to be hoped that he and his coaches use last night’s defeat as the wake-up call that leads to it being fixed, once and for all, on the training pitch.

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