When things go wrong,have United found MRRIGHT? OLE INSPIRES BATTLING DISPLAY AFTER FIRST-HALF INJURY CRISIS KLOPP STROP
IF there was a glint in his eye at the end, then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could be forgiven for thinking he’d pulled a fast one against Liverpool.
In fact, it could just have been the sleight of hand that gets him the Manchester United job permanently, so effectively did his side do a number on the Premier League leaders under almost impossible circumstances.
The test has always been how the Norwegian coach would respond to real adversity at Old Trafford, and he failed it the first time a top-quality side – Paris Saint-germain – came here and asked questions.
This time, though, with four injuries in the first half meaning he carried a passenger for much of the game, Solskjaer responded by making all the right decisions, and making Liverpool look desperately ordinary in the process.
It was the “character” of his team that impressed the most he said, which is always code for the fact that players are buying into his philosophy.
“Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, and I’ve never seen the like of it before,” he said. “But we learnt so much about their character, especially because that first half wasn’t good enough with the ball – I’ve never seen us give the ball away so much.
“They dominated the possession, but didn’t really have a shot on target, and we had the biggest chances – we should have won the game.
“That tells you so much about my players’ character. I was very encouraged by the team with the character and with the attitude.”
Given the injuries to Juan Mata, Ander Herrera, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford, who was left hobbling for most of the game, they did brilliantly to make Liverpool look short of title class.
When you see Paul Pogba putting in a shift down the left, making sliding tackles at left-back, and Rashford fighting through the pain barrier, you know the players are onside.
For Solskjaer, the spirit of Rashford – who is ruled out of Wednesday’s game at Crystal Palace with an ankle injury – typifies his team’s fight... even if he made a veiled reference to his striker being singled out for some rough treatment.
“You can’t say ‘targeted’, but you can say there were quite a few fouls on him, definitely,” said Solskjaer. “And normally, I would take him off after five minutes, because whoever it was went straight through him. His ankle blew up straight away but he wanted to run it off.
“And then I couldn’t take him off with Juan and Jesse going off, so we’re hoping he’s not done too much damage.
“But his incredible attitude – and the incredible atmosphere – more than made up for the fact we were playing with 10-and-a-half men. I was so pleased with the character, with the attitude they showed.” still go back to the top of the Premier League table.
Klopp was caught on TV at the end of a poor game using a series of expletives to describe the quality of the contest to his opposite number Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The United boss confirmed the exchange afterwards: “He can have his opinions but of course he’s not happy if they don’t have a strike on target.”
Klopp turned his ire on captain Jordan Henderson for not shaking hands when substituted and also lashed off-colour Mo Salah (above) for lacking tactical discipline. “Mo knows he can play better,” Klopp said.