Following yesterday’s penalty win against Rochdale, Manchester United Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has called on his players to learn to kill off games earlier.
Speaking at a post-match conference, the angry United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stated that he did not like his player’s attitude when they went 1-0 ahead in the game.
“We go 1-0 up in many games, today it’s again gone 1-0 up and you think ‘go on then, get the second’ which is the key now and that is learning curve for these boys as well. We need to go for a second,” Solksjaer said.
He added,
“At this club, you don’t just sit back and hope that’s enough good. If you settle for good enough, that’s not what we want.”
Mason Greenwood’s strike had given United the lead late in the game before 16-year-old Luke Matheson stunned Old Trafford by cancelling out fellow teenager to secure a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes.
All was left for the penalties to decide and Sergio Romero did not make any mistake in securing a 5-3 penalty shoot-out victory for the hosts.
Romero denied Jimmy Keohane the chance to score from one of Rochdale’s penalties to book a place in round 16 of this year’s Carabao Cup.
The performance raised more questions regarding how far Manchester United will go this season.
Over the weekend they suffered a premier league loss to a struggling Westham side and even the few they have won, they didn’t look impressive at all.
Meanwhile, one thing United fans will be proud of in the form of 17-year-old Greenwood.
He was their star on again yesterday just as he did in the Europa League against Astana last week.
“He has two great feet and (took the) penalty with his right, so he must be a nightmare for defenders having him one on one in the box, “Solksjaer praised the 17-year-old adding that his future looks bright.
“He can go both ways, which is for me fantastic and you can just see he has got quality and he will get his share of the game but he is young, we’ll allow him to grow slowly but surely.”
The Carabao Cup draw means United will face Chelsea and thus will have four successive away games, with trips to Norwich, Partizan Belgrade, Chelsea and Bournemouth as October turns to November.
However, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer is not afraid to take on any side indicating that all teams are beatable.
“If you want to win it, you have to beat the best, we play the the first game of the season this year. We played them in the FA Cup last year and it slots into a couple of weeks with loads of travelling,” he said.
By John Dalton Kigozi
