Ole's verdict on Arsenal, injuries and transfers
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer felt Arsenal showed their quality more than his Manchester United side as he rued a losing start to 2020.
Here are the manager's main comments:
HOW ARSENAL EDGED IT
"You can say that [it's two steps forward, one step back] because of course we have lost the game after two wins. Then again, it's for me it was a game between two teams that do have loads of quality. Arsenal showed it more than us in the first half and they won the game through that. I thought we came out [of the blocks] okay, got two or three counter-attacks. But then they got into the game because we maybe took a few too many touches. They were really sharp in the regains and they won the ball back off us. We never managed to settle and the two goals were obviously disappointing to concede. [Pauses, looking at the TV monitor] I can just see them again there, sorry."
Solskjaer's verdict on the defeat to Arsenal
In our interview, the manager provides his verdict on the performance and result against the Gunners...
"Sometimes it happens. You see there, David [De Gea] saves the corner and then the ball bounces off Victor [Lindelof's] back, that's marginal. The first goal - we shouldn't play offside but then the cross bounces off Victor again and the ball changes direction. Sometimes football is decided on those little things. But as you've said, from 10 minutes until 45, they were better than us, in a good game I felt. It was a high-quality game."
CREDIT DUE TO ARTETA'S TEAM
"I felt they played really well, and sometimes you’ve got to hold your hands up. The boys were trying to get up to them but we were not quick enough and you saw their players today like Ozil and in midfield I thought they played well. We knew they were going to come out of the traps quickly. We took one or too many touches maybe a few times, because you could see Lacazette coming back and tackling a few times, Torreira was doing it, Xhaka, Aubameyang. I think Mikel [Arteta] has really got a reaction from his team and you expect that, because he is a new manager, but you saw in the second half that their energy died a bit and we had loads of it, but we just didn’t manage to get the goal.”
"You can see the squad and sometimes you think, yeah, one or two additions would do nicely because we are building towards something. It just depends on if what we think will be right for us will be available. Of course it’s playing on our decision-making when we’ve got two players out for a bit, Scott for two months and Paul for a month. That gives us less options and we have loads of games and important games. But it still has to be right and that’s the big point here, if someone is available and something is possible we’ll do it. We’re looking at one or two."
POGBA'S ABSENCE
"Yeah, I do [expect him to be at United at the end of the window]. He's injured now and he'll probably need an operation on his foot. And let's see how long it takes for him to get back. We’ve had scans and while it’s nothing major, it’s something that has to be sorted and dealt with, within a time frame. He’s been advised to do it as soon as possible. We’ve had a consultant looking at him and the club has done the scans. It’s a big blow that Paul is out now - he’ll probably be out for three or four weeks - and Scott will be out for a few months. Scott has been magnificent and we hoped Paul could come back [while Scott was out]. He can’t – he’ll be back within a month or so. We look after our players’ health and we won’t take any risk with any players that don’t feel they’re able to play on."
"We’ve been without him [Pogba] all season and the boys that have played have been fantastic. Now we're without [McTominay as well as Pogba] so Nemanja and Fred [will continue]. If they played like tonight then I’m happy with them because they played well, the two of them. Of course you always want competition for places at a place like this and you want players to rotate with. We’ve been suffering a little bit, especially in midfield but you’ve just got to cope with it. The boys who are playing have been fantastic and have really put an effort in. They’ll go again on Saturday and Tuesday and then next Saturday – it’s a relentless period."
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