Solskjaer reacts to derby defeat to Man City

The boss saw his side fall behind to an early own goal by Eric Bailly and concede a second to Bernardo Silva in the dying seconds of the first half.

It left United with a mountain to climb and the visitors controlled the second half to claim the three points.

See what Ole told us and Sky Sports after the game at Old Trafford...

TOUGH TO TAKE

"It's very difficult to talk now, of course, because we started the game off badly, passive and when they get the first goal, it was always going to be a difficult game anyway, but being 1-0 down was hard. David [De Gea] kept us in the game, some good stops and then they scored a goal they always score. [Joao] Cancelo cuts inside, cross [to the] back-stick that we know that’s going to happen and it shouldn’t happen. It's disappointing, of course. It’s hard to talk at the moment. We play against a good team, don’t forget that, but we were nowhere near what our standards and levels can be and that’s something we have to get back to. We’ve got to go back to being on the front foot, be more aggressive, maybe circumstances have made us a little bit more cautious and passive.”

A DISAPPOINTING START

“The result and the manner of the goals we conceded: of course, we’re disappointed with them but we have to get back to what we were. More aggressive, more [on the] front foot and trust ourselves more than what we’ve shown today. I understand that the last couple of weeks have been difficult, but now it’s hard to stand here and talk too much. We have to be more precise on the ball, trust ourselves on the ball, without the ball, be more aggressive, find the angles quicker and play the passes we should be doing.”

CITY KEPT THE BALL

“They played well, of course they don’t give you opportunities to win the ball off them. Some praise has got to go to them as well but, of course, we were not at our level and standard, they need to be raised.”

THE KILLER BLOW

“Of course it’s unfortunate the first one with an own goal. Sometimes that happens. Then if you come into half-time 1-0 down you might get something out of the game, but that was a killer blow of course. It’s a goal that you prepared so well against. You know what’s going to happen when he turns inside and crosses that ball with the inswinging cross. But we didn’t deal with it.”

A LACK OF RESPONSE

“Maybe the first 15-20 minutes, we had a little bit more of the ball but we didn’t create chances, no.”

REACTING TO PRESSURE

“I’m sure when we come back, the players will be fresh in their minds after the internationals and, of course, the demands on me and the players are going to be high, expectations and we’ve just got to get back to what, as I said, we started to look like and what we were for a while and we’ve got the players to do that.”

IMPROVEMENT NEEDED

“We can’t, or I can’t, look at myself and say this is the way I want Man United to play. I’m in good communication all the time with the club and that’s very up front and honest about the situation. I work for Man United, I want the best for Man United and, of course, as long as I’m here, I want to do what I can do to improve this and that’s going back to what we started to look like, as I said.”

MESSAGE TO FANS

“It’s so hard to go through a game like this and we understand everyone’s frustration and disappointment but these boys will do everything they can and the staff will do everything we can and try to get us back to everything we were: front foot, positive, attacking Man United. We’ll do what we can to do that.”