Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has spoken about his happiness after Manchester United’s stunning 6-2 victory over Leeds United in the Premier League on Sunday.
Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes netted braces with Victor Nilsson Lindelöf and Daniel James also making goalscoring contributions as the Red Devils romped to their biggest victory in the Premier League this season.
United are now in third place on the standings and will move up to second if they win their game in hand against Burnley.
“That was fantastic,” Solskjaer told Sky Sports. “From the first minute we had a plan to get after them, go forward when we got the ball, and of course Scott gets two goals in the first three minutes – a great start to the game.
“Just imagine if that had 75,000 people here – it would have gone down in history as one of the great Manchester United performances against Leeds at home.”
Manchester United managed more goals in the first half against Leeds than they managed in their first six home Premier League games of the season (three), winning only one of those fixtures.
Solskjaer’s side scored from six of their 26 attempts, 14 of which were on target, in an end-to-end match that saw 43 efforts in total – the most in a Premier League match this season.
“You have to earn the right to win it by running even more than them. That’s the challenge against Leeds, who are one of the fittest teams in the league,” Solskjaer said.
“They man-mark, of course, so there was a couple of moves that we worked on, which worked at times. It should – it could – have been 12-4.
“You know it’s going to be frantic, hectic against them. No matter what the result, whether you’re up 5-0 or 5-0 down, they have a certain attitude and style that makes you have to work, have to concentrate every minute.”
James, who was on the brink of joining Leeds from Swansea City in January 2019, was handed a first Premier League start in two months and scored his first goal in the competition in 33 appearances.
He covered more distance and managed more sprints than any player on the pitch, which Solskjaer hopes is a sign of things to come from the Wales winger.
“The goal will give Dan James a lot of confidence,” Solskjaer told BBC Sport.”He’s been biding his time, been patient, been working hard and he’s still as fit as a fiddle and I was very, very pleased for him.”
