Owen slams Solskjaer’s team selection after Leeds bore draw

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer TEAMtalk

Michael Owen has slammed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s “negative” team selection after they shared a 0-0 bore draw with Leeds on Sunday.

Manchester United had rolled over their West Yorkshire rivals 6-2 at Old Trafford earlier in the season. However, Owen thought Solskjaer’s line-up set a negative tone for the visitors as both sides struggled to create chances. The Norwegian boss went with a double defensive pivot of Fred and Scott McTomimay, probably to counter Leeds’s high-energy pressing.

Owen though was not impressed, as Paul Pogba was left on the bench.

“I was disappointed with the team that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer picked,” the former Man Utd striker told Premier League Productions.

“I thought it was quite a negative team. You’re going to a team that you’ve already beaten 6-2 in the Premier League, you don’t really need two sitting midfielders.

“I thought it was a negative statement to start with.”

Asked about his team at full-time, Solskajer told MUTV: “You have to think about this game but also the run of games we’re facing.

“Dan did really well against Leeds at home. His high energy, his one-against-one, his defending, everything about him suits this game.”


Subscribe for free to TEAMtalk’s daily newsletter…


Solskjaer: Man Utd played really well

Asked about the performance, Solskajer thought his side “played really well”.

“There’s no guarantees in football that’s for sure. I thought we played really well, dominated the second half and didn’t really give any chances away. We just didn’t have the ball to fall correctly for us in the big moments we had.

“We had some decent chances, unfortunately we couldn’t take them.

“When two teams meet you create problems, you solve problems, they give you things to think about and we made them adjust to us,” he told Sky Sports .

“We put a really big shift in. I have seen Leeds run over teams in the second half and it was the opposite.”

READ MORE: Paul Ince lambasts Maguire for getting Man Utd, Leeds verdict horribly wrong