Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has claimed that United is being “set up to fail” in the Premier League this season.
United defeated Everton 3-1 at Goodison Park on Saturday (November 7) thanks to two goals from Bruno Fernandes and one from Edinson Cavani, after Bernard had put the Toffees ahead in the first half. The match kicked off just over 48 hours after the United squad had arrived back in England from Turkey, where they had lost 2-1 to Istanbul Basaksehir in the Champions League.
Solskjaer was less than impressed and the match arrangements for his team.
“We were set up to fail,” he told BT Sport. “I said to you before, when I talked to you about the kick-off time, it’s set up the boys to fail.
“We got Luke Shaw injured today because we’ve been to Turkey, we’ve played loads of games this season already, and we’ve been to Turkey Wednesday night, [and] come Thursday morning we’re back in, we’re playing Saturday lunchtime kick-off. It’s an absolute shambles and I can’t praise the boys enough for that character they’ve shown.
“That’s all I want to talk about today. Those boys deserve better than being thrown out here to fail today.
“Authorities set us up to fail. How can they set us up, after a Champions League game, Wednesday night, in Turkey, and set us a Saturday 12.30 kick-off?
“You’ve got Liverpool and [Manchester] City – fair play, they play against each other – played on Tuesday and they play on Sunday. Who’s responsible? We’ve had enough of that. I’ve had enough.
“Players, this season, I said it yesterday, you have to understand how these players, in these times, how mentally draining, physically draining this is, and you set them up like this? We’ve lost Luke Shaw because of that.
“Set us up on a Sunday. There’s absolutely no problem, there’s an international break after. No argument whatsoever [about a Sunday match]. It’s just a joke.”
Asked about the performance of Fernandes, who scored twice and set up Cavani’s goal, Solskjaer said: “Brilliant. Absolutely top, fantastic, after Thursday morning coming back. They’re not gonna have the pleasure of seeing us lose again.
“[Cavani] is getting better and better, sharper and sharper, today was just trying to finish the game off, because we did well.”
Solskjaer confirmed Shaw’s injury could be a lengthy one, while he said Mason Greenwood did not travel with the squad after reporting that he felt unwell.
