Solskjaer feels Reds were fortunate to beat Hammers
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer acknowledged Manchester United's performance may not have matched the result as the Reds overcame West Ham United 2-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday.
However, the boss was delighted to emerge from the challenge with three points and had some nice words for the individual contributions of David De Gea, Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood when speaking after the game to MUTV and BT Sport.
Fortunate to win
“We got away with it, you can put it that way. I know it’s not easy because we played a game on Wednesday and there were a few changes that we had to make. So, we got away with it. They deserved their goal, but then again we’re allowed to have a good goalkeeper.”
The luck will even out
“Away from home, especially the Wolverhampton and Arsenal games [defeats], I’ve stood here and been pleased with the performances, when we’ve played well and created chances but didn’t get what we deserved. In the last two games here at home, against Watford and now West Ham, we’ve probably got more than we deserved. But it’ll even itself out over the season. Sometimes you can’t always be on your game and we have to be honest that today and in the Watford game we have been poor. We haven’t performed, we’ve been too open, our shape wasn’t good enough."
Fortunate to win
“We got away with it, you can put it that way. I know it’s not easy because we played a game on Wednesday and there were a few changes that we had to make. So, we got away with it. They deserved their goal, but then again we’re allowed to have a good goalkeeper.”
The luck will even out
“Away from home, especially the Wolverhampton and Arsenal games [defeats], I’ve stood here and been pleased with the performances, when we’ve played well and created chances but didn’t get what we deserved. In the last two games here at home, against Watford and now West Ham, we’ve probably got more than we deserved. But it’ll even itself out over the season. Sometimes you can’t always be on your game and we have to be honest that today and in the Watford game we have been poor. We haven’t performed, we’ve been too open, our shape wasn’t good enough."
Solskjaer: De Gea won the game for us Video
Solskjaer: De Gea won the game for us
Ole discusses De Gea's key saves, Pogba's penalties, the performance and more in our exclusive post-match interview...
Scheduling problem
“Maybe the fact that we have a game on Tuesday night played on some players' minds, but it shouldn’t do. What I don’t really understand is why we played Wednesday and then Tuesday [in the Champions League], and why other teams play Tuesday and then Wednesday. It’s difficult to work it out, but we’ve got three points.”
De Gea among the greats
"Today we’ve been saved by individual quality - sometimes that happens at Manchester United. A couple of great saves from David [De Gea] won us the game. Over the years we’ve rode our luck a few times, we’ve had the best goalkeepers around, we had Edwin [van der Sar], we had Peter [Schmeichel] and now we’ve got David. We’ve got players at the other end that win us the game when we don’t perform. We were lucky today but we got the three points."
“Maybe the fact that we have a game on Tuesday night played on some players' minds, but it shouldn’t do. What I don’t really understand is why we played Wednesday and then Tuesday [in the Champions League], and why other teams play Tuesday and then Wednesday. It’s difficult to work it out, but we’ve got three points.”
De Gea among the greats
"Today we’ve been saved by individual quality - sometimes that happens at Manchester United. A couple of great saves from David [De Gea] won us the game. Over the years we’ve rode our luck a few times, we’ve had the best goalkeepers around, we had Edwin [van der Sar], we had Peter [Schmeichel] and now we’ve got David. We’ve got players at the other end that win us the game when we don’t perform. We were lucky today but we got the three points."
Paul Pogba’s penalty run-up and performance
"He’s probably been thinking about it but he’s practising penalties. He knows he’s on them and he just makes up his mind. He’s got a good goal ratio. Paul’s got a great mentality, I don’t think he’s fazed by anything. He’s got a good personality, he loves football, he plays it for the right reasons. He played a different role today and I thought at times he played really well, but at times we struggled to have a good shape. Paul and Fred did really well in midfield."
Mason Greenwood’s senior home debut
"Towards the end when you’ve got Mason [Greenwood] at right wing, Andreas [Pereira] at right back - we had to go for it. Maybe we should have tried to be a bit more cautious but that’s the way [it is at United]. Mason brought some energy to the crowd, he tried to take people on and I’m very happy with his home debut."
Barcelona next
"I’m looking forward to a better performance [on Tuesday night] and everyone knows we’ve got a way to go and we have to perform better, because if that was Barca today it would have been 5-0 [to them].”
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"He’s probably been thinking about it but he’s practising penalties. He knows he’s on them and he just makes up his mind. He’s got a good goal ratio. Paul’s got a great mentality, I don’t think he’s fazed by anything. He’s got a good personality, he loves football, he plays it for the right reasons. He played a different role today and I thought at times he played really well, but at times we struggled to have a good shape. Paul and Fred did really well in midfield."
Mason Greenwood’s senior home debut
"Towards the end when you’ve got Mason [Greenwood] at right wing, Andreas [Pereira] at right back - we had to go for it. Maybe we should have tried to be a bit more cautious but that’s the way [it is at United]. Mason brought some energy to the crowd, he tried to take people on and I’m very happy with his home debut."
Barcelona next
"I’m looking forward to a better performance [on Tuesday night] and everyone knows we’ve got a way to go and we have to perform better, because if that was Barca today it would have been 5-0 [to them].”
Reading this in our app? If not, you might miss some exclusive features not found on ManUtd.com. Download the Official App here.
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