Reds suffer sea-slide special
Defeat not down to under-fire Pereira insists Reds manager
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer refused to single out Andreas Pereira following another impotent United performance in their 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth.
The midfielder started his eighth consecutive Premier League game in the playmaker role but flagged as the match wore on and was replaced by Jesse Lingard midway through the second half in a bid to salvage the game.
The 23-year-old has not scored since March and has struggled to justify his consistent selections, but Solskjaer again preferred Pereira over Lingard or Juan Mata in the starting line-up at the Vitality Stadium.
Pereira was widely pilloried by
United fans following their fourth domestic defeat of the campaign, but Solskjaer instead took umbrage with a front four that also consisted of Daniel James, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.
“As the whole team, I think we started well but were lacking a bit of end product and quality at the end,” Solskjaer said.
“And that doesn’t just apply to Andreas.
“The front four looked promising but flattered to deceive a little bit, it looked like we could create chances but just didn’t have the last pass or last finish and that’s something we need to improve upon.”
United have lost to Crystal Palace, West Ham, Newcastle and Bournemouth in the league this term and failed to score against three of them. They have managed just three wins from 11 in the league and have two more matches before the November internationals. Although the brief winning run ended at Bournemouth, Solskjaer is adamant the Reds need six points from their Europa and Premier League fixtures at Old Trafford this week against Partizan and Brighton.
“It’s a test of character when you come down to places like this,” Solskjaer added. “I think at least we went for it, we didn’t stop trying but the lack of quality couldn’t give us a point or three.
“Then two more games before the international break. “We’ve got a chance on Thursday to qualify in Europe [against Partizan Belgrade], then Brighton at home, we need a response.
It was always going to be a difficult game and it wasn’t going to be a game with loads of goals in it
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
“Games like this, you need to win if you want to challenge for top four and we’re disappointed.
“It was always going to be a difficult game and it wasn’t going to be a game with loads of goals in it, because there’s two good defensive teams. The first goal was always going to be very important in this type of game.
“We started well, opened them up quite a bit in the first 15 or 20 minutes, but we couldn’t get the goal and it didn’t become a fantastic game of football.”