Football
Rob Dawson, Correspondent 4y

Manchester United supporters have right to feel 'disillusioned' - Solskjaer

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted Manchester United fans have reason to be "disillusioned" after watching their team fall to a 2-0 defeat to Burnley.

Chris Wood and Jay Rodriguez scored either side of half-time to hand the visitors their first win at Old Trafford since 1962. It was an evening that saw United supporters again aim protest chants at American owners the Glazer family and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and a large number of fans leave the match before it had ended.

"At the end you do feel disillusioned as you say, because maybe they do, but for us we've just got to stick to our values, stick to our beliefs and know there's no use feeling sorry for yourself," Solskjaer told a news conference after the game.

"You've got to go out there with the same commitment tomorrow, the day after, get ready for Sunday."

Solskjaer's young squad has been stretched by injuries to key players Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford while there are nine days remaining of the January transfer window for the club to bring in much-needed new signings.

"We know we've had a lot amount of games since beginning of December and they are very stretched," said Solskjaer. "Some of these have probably played more than they should have and expected, more mentally than physically I think they need a mid-season break.

"We just need to get over that line, not get these three games out of the way but look forward to Sunday, the FA Cup against who knows who and there's a chance then to get some belief back."

Former United defender Rio Ferdinand, working as a pundit for BT Sport labelled the defeat to Burnley "an embarrassment" and afterwards Solskjaer could find few excuses for their second Premier League defeat in the space of four days.

"I can't sit here and do anything but hold my hands up and say that's not good enough for Manchester United," said Solskjaer.

"We are working to improve and get players in and hopefully we can get something over the line [before the deadline]. These players are being stretched.

"They scored from their chances and we didn't take ours. Lately we've played better in these types of games where we've dominated, but today we didn't get the first goal and that took lots of the belief out of us."

Next up for United is a fourth-round FA Cup match against the winner of the replay between Watford and Tranmere Rovers (stream live on ESPN+ on Jan. 26 at 10 a.m. ET).

^ Back to Top ^