Ben Guest
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has urged his side to rediscover their goalscoring ‘mojo’ after last week’s double disappointment.
The Red Devils slipped to a shock 2-1 defeat to Premier League strugglers Sheffield United in midweek before being held to a 0-0 draw with Arsenal, struggling to break down Chris Wilders resilient side, while missing a number of presentable chances against the Gunners.
Manchester United host Southampton on Tuesday night, with manager Solskjaer, once again having very little time to work with his players on the training field amid the quick turnaround in fixtures, though he urged them to rediscover their goalscoring touch against Ralph Hassenhuttl’s side.
“There’s not been time to do a lot on the training pitch,” he told the media at his pre-match press conference. “The boys that played are still on their recovery track from Saturday night, but then they also have to prepare for tomorrow night, so it’s right in between for them. So the session was light, but some of them scored a few goals.
“Of course, we want to get that mojo back. I think we’ve created enough chances to score the goals and now it’s just about feeling good and taking a deep breath and putting the ball between the posts.”
United’s results have seen them surrender the lead at the top of the table to Man City who are now three points clear at the top of the Premier League and still possessing a game in hand, though Solskjaer was keen not to talk about his side’s title chances.
Manchester United against 'big six' clubs in the Premier League this season:
❌ Man Utd 1-6 Tottenham
🤝 Man Utd 0-0 Chelsea
❌ Man Utd 0-1 Arsenal
🤝 Man Utd 0-0 Man City
🤝 Liverpool 0-0 Man Utd
🤝 Arsenal 0-0 Man UtdSix games, one goal, zero wins 😴 pic.twitter.com/BPcmTHMyM9
— Goal (@goal) January 30, 2021
“I think we should just focus on ourselves and take one game at a time, and not talk about any title. Just focus on playing well and keep improving, we have improved a lot.
“For us, it’s about getting the momentum back on and get performances and continue where we’ve been.”
Solskjaer did, however, did reveal that the club have received a report from a referee delegate which confirmed that there were two incorrect decisions in the defeat to Sheffield United. The referee and VAR failed to rule out Kean Bryan’s opener for a foul on David de Gea, while an Anthony Martial equaliser was chalked off incorrectly for a foul on Aaron Ramsdale.
“We want to keep on trying to, of course, dominate games,” Solskjaer said when asked what else he wants to see from his side. “We feel we’ve dominated them, but of course we need a bit of brightness and spark in the last third – take the chances.
“I don’t really like to bring these up, but the momentum shifted for us with the Sheffield United game, of course, it did. I’ve got the delegate’s report through from the referee and both decisions were wrong. Their goal should have been disallowed and ours should have stood. That is a big momentum change for us.
“It’s more likely when you go 1-0 up than 1-0 down, that you can win that game. That’s fine margins. It has been the way this season: fine margins. You hit the post, it’s going to go in or go out. That’s the way it is all season. Sometimes you’re lucky decisions, sometimes you’re not. We just have to keep focusing on this game, do our job and I’m sure the results and performances will come.”
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