Man United’s Solskjaer wary of Southampton, dismisses EPL title talk, condemns racism

MANCHESTER United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is backing his misfiring players to get back to scoring ways, starting with Tuesdsay night’s Premier League fixture against Southampton at Old Trafford.

Solskjaer’s side have struggled for goals lately, scoring just once in their last two league fixtures.

While giving a fitness update on his squad, the Norwegian spoke about the need to start scoring again.

“Apart from the wear and tear and the quick turnaround, everyone should be available,” Solskjaer told journalists during his media briefing on Monday.

“There’s not been time to do a lot on the training pitch. 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 talking a deep breath and putting the ball between the posts.”

United are second in the Premier League, three points behind leaders and local rivals Manchester City, who have a game in hand.

Solskjaer refused to be drawn into talking about his team’s involvement in the title race.

He said: “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.”

There has been a rise in racist abuse incidents in recent weeks, with three of United’s players Axel Tuanzebe, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford victims of racist backlash on social media.

Solskjaer describes the action of the racists as “unacceptable”.

“I don’t think this is just a matter of footballers or famous people,” he noted.

“That gets highlighted which is, in a sense, it’s good that we talk about it and we highlight it again, but it’s unacceptable behaviour. 

“It happens all across society. We’ll work with the authorities and it has to be stopped. This way of discrimination, on social media, we can’t do a lot, can we? So we have to work with the platforms and have got to be stronger to make sure that we stop this.”

Solskjaer also stated that he was pleased with the club’s transfer dealings in January with players leaving and none arriving, except Amad Diallo whose deal had been agreed with Atalanta in the summer.

“We’ve made decisions that we feel have been good for individuals and for us as well,” the former United striker said.

“With the young players moving on – [James] Garner, [Tahith] Chong, [Teden] Mengi, [Facundo] Pellistri – getting the chance to play more football has been important for us. Our group is a tight-knit group, we don’t have too many players in excess, and hopefully Jesse [Lingard] can get going and do well at West Ham as well.

“I can confirm there will not be anyone coming in. Don’t stay up late! Phil has been recovering from an injury, a knee operation he had and he’s working hard to be available again. So, he will be included on the list and hopefully, he’ll get his fitness back sooner rather than later and be able to play.”

United had to come from behind to beat Southampton in their first league meeting but the Saints will be missing a few key players to injury on Tuesday at Old Trafford.

However, Solskjaer still expects the Saints to be strong opponents.

“I expect a similar team that we played against. It’s a strong XI – I know they have a lot of injuries, that’s to be expected over the course of the season with the football they play: high intensity, direct, loads of energy,” he said.

“They’ve just hit a moment with loads of injuries. When you get to that moment, with players coming back and there’s an injury in the squad and you have to come back too early. I’ve been lucky in that respect; I have a strong and healthy squad. 

“I haven’t had to risk players and I’ve rotated when there have been risks. There have been a few times where I’ve had to leave players out. We’ve been lucky in that respect, we haven’t had injuries. Hopefully they can get theirs fit because this season is relentless.”

The United manager is disappointed with his side’s last two league results, a home defeat to Sheffield United and a goalless draw at Arsenal, and he is determined to see improvements.

He said:“We want to keep on trying to, of course, dominate games. 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.”

Young forward Diallo scored twice on his United debut in a 6-3 win for the U-23s over Liverpool in midweek but Solskjaer is not in a rush to give the Ivorian first team action.

“We’re going to give him the time to really settle in and keep showing his skills, improving  and get time to adapt to England and our way,” he explained.

“If we go from that game I would pick Joe Hugill. He scored four goals, he should have taken the penalty and got five, instead of giving it to Amad to get two. Amad has done well in training, he has good, close feet, he will open up defences. I don’t think it is going to be too long until he’s involved in a matchday squad.”