CHRISTMAS CRACKER
Ole bemoans sloppy start but Rashford saves day for United
OLE gunnar Solskjaer was unhappy with his ‘ sloppy’ players despite Manchester United coming from behind again to win at Bramall Lane last night.
United won away for the sixth time in the Premier League this season — having fallen behind on each occasion — as they beat Sheffield United 3- 2 thanks to an excellent double from striker Marcus Rashford.
But they started badly when goalkeeper Dean Henderson’s blunder against his old club gifted an opening goal to David Mcgoldrick, and ended the game on the ropes when Mcgoldrick struck again.
‘The start was so sloppy,’ said Solskjaer. ‘We were slow again, and I’m very surprised about that.
‘We spoke about it and showed them videos, and it happened
favour of increasing the number of replacements from three to five — but yesterday only 10 clubs voted in favour of the rule-change during the final shareholders’ meeting of 2020.
Aston Villa, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Leicester, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield United, West Ham and Wolves were those who voted against.
There was, however, one boost for those seeking to improve their options from the bench after it was agreed that clubs should be permitted to name nine substitutes, an increase from seven, from this weekend — with 16 executives voting in favour of the amendment yesterday.
The Premier League also confirmed that they have agreed, in principle, to introduce additional permanent concussion substitutions following approval of the trial by the International Football Association Board ( IFAB) on Wednesday.
Clubs will be allowed two concussion substitutes per team — regardless of the number of changes they have made already.
The Premier League will now apply for permission from IFAB to take part in the trial, which could be implemented as early as next month.
But it was news that clubs will continue with three substitutes that came as a major blow to some managers yesterday.
Sportsmail revealed on November 9 that the top six were on a collision course over their attempts to reintroduce the contentious five substitutions rule because there remained sizeable opposition to it.
Certain clubs were of the view that an increase provided an unfair advantage to bigger teams, who have significantly deeper squads — while there were also concerns that changing the rules would compromise the integrity of the competition.
Premier League bosses have been under growing pressure from their own medical departments to lobby for five substitutions due to player welfare fears.
Indeed, there was consternation from some top-flight medical staff yesterday, who fear players will suffer as a result, particularly over the hectic festive period.