Solskjaer reflects on United's missed chances
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes Manchester United were left to rue missed opportunities, as the Reds endured a 2-0 defeat to West Ham United at the London Stadium.
Andriy Yarmolenko curled in the opener for the Hammers on the stroke of half-time, before Aaron Cresswell's free-kick secured all three points for the Hammers with six minutes to spare.
United had two great opportunities to draw level in the second half, as Juan Mata put the ball wide from close range, while Harry Maguire had a powerful strike parried away by Lukasz Fabianski. The Reds were dealt a further blow, as Marcus Rashford had to be withdrawn due to a groin injury.
Speaking to MUTV and in his post-match press conference, the Norwegian delivered his assessment of the match and provided an injury update ahead of another busy week of fixtures...
A FINELY-BALANCED MATCH
"It was, as with many Premier League games, an even game that will be decided by quality at one end and today it was them with two very good goals, two great finishes, but of course we could have done better defending them and we should have, could have scored ourselves.
"When you lose a game you’re disappointed. It’s a game that could have gone both ways as you expect away from home in the Premier League."
Solskjaer's verdict after West Ham defeat
Hear the thoughts of the boss following a disappointing afternoon at the London Stadium...
AN UPDATE ON OUR FORWARDS
"We’ve had, historically, loads of centre-backs who have struggled with injuries. We’ve come down here and Michael Carrick has played centre-back and Darren Fletcher has. At the moment it’s strikers, that’s just how it’s gone. Hopefully, Mason [Greenwood] and Anthony [Martial] will be back for Arsenal and at least one for Rochdale.
"We’ve got a scan tomorrow. He [Rashford] felt his groin, so he’ll probably be out for a little while. You never want to see players injured but that's part and parcel of the game. We've coped with that before and we're going to cope with that again."
TAKING OUR CHANCES
"We didn’t create enough chances, but we did create big chances that we didn’t take. They didn’t create too many either and it’s a game that could have gone both ways. When you have Marcus and Dan James I don’t think pace is the problem.
"We had the momentum but that doesn't always give you goals and when you give fouls away just outside the box - they had one just before as well, Cresswell has got a good left foot. We felt that we should have had something from the game. We didn't and we've got to move forward."
A TOUGH GROUND TO VISIT
"It's always a difficult ground to go to and we hoped to do better than we did. We hoped for better, but in the key moments they grasped it and we didn’t. They had two fantastic finishes from two left feet and we didn’t take our chances when we had them."
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