Solskjaer hints at Man Utd plans to replace Rashford during injury layoff

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Manchester United TEAMtalk

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claimed that Manchester United don’t need to sign a replacement for Marcus Rashford despite them drawing a blank for the third time this month against Liverpool.

The day started on a bad note for United when Solskjaer confirmed that Rashford would be out for a few weeks after aggravating a back injury – with reports now suggesting he could even miss up to three months.

The action on the pitch did little to take United’s minds away from the misfortune of their situation, as Liverpool dominated for large portions of the game to seal a win that could go down in history should they go on to win the league from here.

Solskjaer, though, believes United’s attitude was faultless, and that the simplicity of the two goals they conceded was his only real frustration.

“The players gave us everything,” he told Match of the Day. “Today we hung on a bit at the start of second half, but the last 25-30 mins we pressed them and pushed them back.

“I’m disappointed with conceding from a corner and with the last kick – but very many positives.

“I felt in the second half we performed really well against a good team and at a difficult place.

“We didn’t have quality with our finishing or last pass. Fred was absolutely top and David de Gea. As a team we worked together as a unit.”

With the worst being confirmed about Rashford’s absence, Solskjaer was asked whether United will sign another striker in January.

“Rashford will be out for a while,” he confirmed. “He got a new injury against Wolves. We’ll not see him for a little while.

“We’re always looking at chances to improve the squad – with Marcus out for a while we have to look at it closely.”

“He’s suffered a bad injury,” he elaborated to Sky Sports. “Yeah it’s a [back] stress fracture, it happened against Wolves.

“It’s not happened before, it happened there and then. He’ll be out for a while. He won’t be back until after the mid-season break.

“Normally six weeks to heal, but I’m not a doctor, and then he needs rehab after that probably.

“We’ve had many injuries for big players this season. It’s just an unfortunate situation we’re in. We might look at some short term deals as well that could take us through to the summer.

“We don’t desperately need a striker, if the right one is there and it fits for us… we’ve got players who are champing at the bit.”

Read more: Jurgen Klopp encouraged Liverpool fans to start thinking they have won the league – but isn’t letting his players get drawn in by the same feelings.