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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Blasts Man Utd for Treating Watford Loss Like Testimonial

​Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer criticised his players for treating Sunday's 2-0 loss to Watford like a "testimonial" match.

The Red Devils enjoyed the majority of possession but failed to create many chances of note against the Premier League's bottom side, and two quick goals after the interval from Ismaïla Sarr and Troy Deeney ensured United's recent good run of form came to an abrupt end.

Marcus Rashford

Speaking after the game (via ​Sky Sports News), Solskjaer admitted he was hugely disappointed with his side's lack of energy or urgency during the match.


"The first half it could easily have been my testimonial. And it might have been a better atmosphere at my testimonial, to be fair. It was very subdued, slow, no tempo, urgency," he said.


"Any bit of encouragement their crowd got was when we gave them set-plays. And we gave them two goals in the second half.

"Today is not about the amount of possession - it's about quality, how we do things and the two goals we conceded. The first one, a big goal, was from a mistake. The second goal as well, it's a bad mistake making a tackle. So two goals in three minutes made it hard for us."

However, it was not all doom and gloom for ​United, who welcomed midfielder ​Paul Pogba back to the team following a three-month absence with a foot injury.

"[Pogba] gave us that little bit of edge, quality and urgency," Solskjaer added (via ​BBC Sport).

"The last half-an-hour when Paul came on, that was probably the only plus today. He played some great passes over the top, he had some nice combinations and he had a chance himself. The boy has been working really hard to get fit and maybe he was ready to even play more but let's see how he reacts to this."

The defeat means United missed the chance to force their way towards the top four. They are now seven points behind ​Chelsea, who extended their advantage thanks to an impressive 2-0 win over ​Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

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Source : 90min