Solskjaer's warning to Man United youngsters after Europa League flop
Football
By
Mirror
| Aug 17, 2020
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claims his young Manchester United players must learn after their inexperience cost them their Europa League dream.
United paid the price for a succession of missed chances and poor defending for Luuk de Jong’s winner for Sevilla and Solskjaer admitted his side must be more consistent.
“We have to take it, although it’s going to be hard,” said the United manager. “We have a young team and our average age is three years less than them.
“I thought some spells today showed that this group of players will have to learn and get the consistency in their play.
“Their goalkeeper had a fantastic game and of course it’s disappointing we don’t score because we know we’ve got the players who have that quality.
READ MORE
Doctors set 90-day ultimatum for pay talks, warn of strike
Kenya, Italy adopt four-year cooperation plan after Ruto-Meloni talks
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hopes his side learn from the experience
“To concede two goals from two crosses is disappointing. For the second goal, it’s not just the defending in the box, but the whole run-up to the goal. Our recovery runs were not good enough.”
Skipper Harry Maguire claimed the players were “devastated” to lose a third semi-final this season to finish trophyless and agreed with Solskjaer that United’s inexperience had cost them.
“We’ve conceded from two crosses, it’s not good enough,” he said. “We’ve worked our socks off out there and deserved to win the game, we deserved to go through.
“But it’s the third semi-final we have lost this year and that’s disappointing.
“Maybe it was that little bit of inexperience has cost us in the end because even though we were on top and creating chances, we should not be conceding the second goal.
Errors at both ends of the pitch cost them (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Did Man Utd deserve to lose their semi-final? Have your say below
“We know what it means to play for this club and losing is not acceptable.
“There are areas where we can improve and we need to get better.”
Bruno Fernandes, who gave United an early lead from the penalty spot, rowed with Victor Lindelof over Sevilla’s winner and he played down their spat.
“It’s normal when you take a goal, everyone was mad,” he said. “It’s not about me or Victor. What happened is nothing, it was normal.”
A rowdy delegation from Sevilla, high up in the stands, caused anger among the United subs when they appealed for a second-half penalty.
United subs, including Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay, shouted at the group to “sit down” and “be quiet”, provoking an angry response from the group, who were even more loud when they scored the winner minutes later.