Ole Gunnar Solskjaer does not think Manchester United should press the panic following Wednesday’s shocking 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United at Old Trafford.
United would have leapfrogged Manchester City and moved to the summit of the standings with a win over the basement club but goals from Kean Bryan and Oliver Burke scored either side of a Harry Maguire header completed an improbable result.
It also meant that the Red Devils’ at 13-game unbeaten run in the Premier League came to a shuddering halt.
It was the first time Man United lost at home to a team starting the day bottom of the table since suffering a 1-0 defeat to West Brom in April 2018, a result that handed Manchester City the title.
This setback was similarly a boost for City, whose 5-0 thrashing of the Baggies on Tuesday means they can now open up a four-point gap at the top over their local rivals if they win their game in hand.
But Solskjaer felt it was simply a bad day for his side at the end of a strong run of results.
“We had all the possession. When you concede two bad goals, it’s always going to be difficult,” he told BT Sport.”We didn’t create enough. We put pressure on them, we couldn’t penetrate enough in behind them, create big enough chances to score enough goals.
“That magic was missing, that little bit extra. There was not a lot of space to run into, they defended well, and fair play to them, take nothing away from their performance, but we didn’t have the right ideas or solutions. They weren’t there.
“It wasn’t to be. The second goal we conceded is so poor. We lose the ball easily, get back into position and then just stop getting out to the ball. Three or four decisions there that were completely out of character. That’s maybe down to the season it is.
“No big inquest. Of course, we’re disappointed, but we’ve seen so many results this season be out of character.
“Surprised, yep, but with the world as it is, we’ve been very consistent, the most consistent team the last few months and it just hit us today.”Dust off the sad feeling and go again.”
