Solskjaer defends team selection and says ‘I’d Pick same side again’
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer defended his team selection in United’s FA Cup defeat at Leicester and insisted he would pick the same team again.
The Reds’ unbeaten domestic away run ended after 28 games in a 3-1 reverse at the King Power Stadium, where Paul Pogba started for the first time in six weeks and Donny van de Beek made his comeback after a five-week absence. The pair contributed to Mason Greenwood’s equaliser in the 38th minute, yet both were removed when United simultaneously made four substitutions in the 64th minute with Leicester 2-1 up, yet the error-prone Fred stayed on.
Solskjaer admitted Pogba and Van de Beek were only capable of playing for an hour and Bruno Fernandes was among the substitutions introduced.
The Portuguese had not started in any of United’s previous FA Cup ties but his absence was key at Leicester after a week in which Solskjaer downplayed silverware.
The Reds trail City by 14 points in the Premier League and their only realistic chance of a trophy is in the Europa League.
“I would have started the same team again,” Solskjaer replied when asked if it was a mistake to start
Pogba and Van de Beek as they were not fully match-fit. “We felt they had more than 45 minutes in them, they’re important players for us, that’s why we started with them.
“Every team selection has reasons behind it and Bruno has played a lot of football.
“Thursday night (against Milan) he broke all his records physically, statistically. And the boy is not inhuman, he is also a human being.
“He’s played a game every three or four days and it was a chance to start both Donny and Paul, but the accumulation of games maybe caught up with us.
“Bruno wants to play and sometimes you make decisions for the benefit of the team.
“We picked a team we felt was going to win the game, giving us a foundation to win the game.
“We knew players like Donny and
Paul wouldn’t last more than an hourish, we knew we had subs who could come on and make a difference, and we hoped they could give us that extra energy and brightness.
“We were not as sharp as we normally have been lately, the accumulation of games is maybe a factor and the freshness of Leicester made them sharper than us today.”