Solskjaer puts finger on what Man Utd were missing in Sheff Utd defeat

Sam Charlton 27 Jan 2021 11:08 PM

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes Manchester United were missing some “magic” in their shock 2-1 home defeat to bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United.

Goals from Kean Bryan and Ollie Burke- either side of Harry Maguire’s equaliser- gave the Blades a massive three points at Old Trafford.

It meant United missed out on the chance to return to the top of the table. Man City, who beat West Brom 5-0 on Tuesday, remain at the summit instead.

The defeat is even more of a surprise given how high confidence appeared to be on the back of their good form of late.

And while Solskjaer denied that his team were lacking inspiration, he did state they were in their performance overall.

Talking to BT Sport, he said: “Not inspiration, [but] that magic. That’s what was missing, that little bit extra.

“Of course, 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 the solutions. They weren’t there.”

When Maguire levelled the score in the 64th minute, United were expected to go on and claim the win. Especially as they have already picked up maximum points from losing positions several times this term.

But things panned out differently on this occasion, to which a disappointed Solskjaer simply responded to with: “it wasn’t to be.”

No panic

Despite the unexpected setback, Solskjaer insists there won’t be any over the top reaction to the loss.

It was their first Premier League loss since 1st November, and only their fourth in the league this season.

With that in mind, plus the added difficulties involved in the current campaign, the Norwegian manager seemed calm as he looked ahead.

“No, [there will be] no big inquest,” he said. “Of course we’re disappointed but we’ve seen so many results this season that have been out of character.

“Today, yes we’re surprised but with the world as it is we’ve been very consistent. We’ve been the most consistent team the last few months. It just hit us today.

“We’ll dust off the sad feeling and go again.”