Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said Manchester United’s players cannot always depend on Bruno Fernandes after their fourth semi-final defeat in the last year. Fernandes was off-colour in United’s 2-0 loss to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup on a night when none of their forwards performed. Solskjaer named an unchanged front four, with Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford on the wings and Anthony Martial up front again in the absence of the suspended Edinson Cavani. Fernandes, 26, has been a totemic presence since he joined United almost a year ago and has tallied 27 goals and 17 assists, while he is their top scorer this season. However, Solskjaer insists others need to try and match his influence.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said “It’s not just about Bruno not finding inspiration, It’s about the whole team creating chances and when you play against good teams – Man City played well tonight – you have to be spot on and you have to earn the right to create chances. We had some moments in the first-half on the break, second-half it was more about pressure but we didn’t create big chances. Anthony had a couple of half-decent ones but we just didn’t have enough in the last pass or last finish. I felt first-half we defended really well, they posed us some problems but we kept them away from our goal quite well. They had one shot that hit the post, we had one shot with the save from the keeper from Bruno. After they scored, I felt we had more of the ball, more of the pressure but still couldn’t create enough. Possession counts for nothing but first-half they had a lot more possession of the ball than we had. We looked dangerous on the counter-attack but Marcus was offside or the ball came a little bit late a couple of times. Well, I don’t think it’s a mental issue, Tonight, it was about just that lack of quality compared to them. We played against a good Man City team, they deserved to win but I feel we were disappointed when we concede two set-plays. We defended well, they kept the ball really well, especially in the first-half, and if they carve you open that’s one way of losing but to concede two set-plays, that’s disappointing. We just didn’t have the margins with us, their keeper made a fine save first-half from Bruno’s shot and the first goal is always going to be important in a game like this.”
