LONDON: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he had to “hold his hands up” and admit that Manchester United’s performance was not good enough in A 2-0 home defeat by Burnley which prompted furious chants from fans and a mass departure long before the final whistle.
Burnley were well worth their first win at Old Trafford since 1962.
That meant Solskjaer has now lost more Premier League games than he has won as permanent manager as the Red Devils endure their worst season for 30 years, sitting 11 points worse off than they were at this stage last year.
He said: “We have to hold our hands up and say it wasn’t good enough. The first half we created half openings but we weren’t sharp enough to take our chances and when you do that you can be punished, and they did that. They were clinical, they were efficient and then they defended well and we couldn’t open them up.
“The boys are giving everything they’ve got. They’re experiencing this for the first time in their life some of them and it’s hard. The expectations are high here and it’s not easy for them.
“I’m going to back them and I’m going to help them to get through this.
“But right now we can’t do anything but hold our hands up and say this isn’t good enough for this club.
“You can talk about stats all day long and of course were disappointed with the points tally we have, I don’t want to hang on the fact we’re fifth in the table but we are. We work every day with these boys to try and get us to play better than this.
“Days like this though do highlight how well some of these lads have done this season, some of the performances have been great. I thought we’d turned that corner but we haven’t today.”
United are being frustrated in the transfer window so far, missing out on Erling Haaland and now struggling to agree a deal to sign Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon.
Solskjaer said: “We’re looking to improve, we know our targets. We’ve already started the clear out and we now need to get players in, of course it’s the transfer window and I’ll be answering these questions until it’s closed and we’re working on things.
“For me the more important thing is we have to perform on the pitch and today wasn’t good enough for a Man Utd team.”
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