Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Admits Manchester United Must Improve Mentality Against Smaller Teams

​Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted he will work with his team to improve their mentality when it comes to games against so-called smaller teams.

The Red Devils have looked fantastic against the likes of Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and even Liverpool, yet have failed to overcome Sheffield United, Aston Villa and Newcastle United in the opening half of the season.

Marcus Rashford,Kyle Walker

Speaking after his side's 2-1 win over ​City on Saturday (via ​Goal), Solskjaer insisted he was not concerned by his team's inconsistency this year, but he is ready to work with the players on the mental side of the game.

“If it’s a mental thing, then we can sort it out,” he explained. “We’ll work with the mentality of the boys.

“For me, it’s been very much about margins in those games. Some freak results that we can’t control. But if you look behind the results I’m not as negative as you are. I’m not so worried, so concerned.

“If the boys are then telling me they can’t get up for these games – then we’ve got a problem. Then I’ve really got to work with them because, when I played, that’s how we won the league."

The boss confessed that, historically, ​United have not often dropped points against smaller sides, but English football has changed and it is now a far greater challenge to beat everyone.

"We never gave points away against the lesser teams, the not-so-good teams," he said. "The ​Premier League is difficult – if you don’t have that mentality you won’t get results. I’ll work on the mentality.

“We've had chances in every single game. There are so many games I could go through that we should have won. We know that we have to get better results against teams that drop deeper. We'll improve on that."

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Next up for United is a visit from AZ Alkmaar in their final Europa League group-stage game, before Duncan Ferguson's ​Everton travel to Old Trafford on Sunday.


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Source : 90min