WE ARE NOT DIVERS!
United manager Ole hits back at Lampard
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer has hit back at Frank Lampard – and insisted his Manchester United stars are NOT divers.
Chelsea boss Lampard (right) stoked the fires ahead of today’s FA Cup semi-final with United by pointing the finger at influential midfielder Bruno Fernandes, calling him “clever” after earning a penalty at Aston Villa recently. United have been awarded 13 penalties this season, equalling a Premier League record, but furious Solskjaer rubbished the notion his attackers cheat. “One hundred per cent I will defend my players, none of them try to con the ref at all,” insisted the United boss. “If you have quick feet like Dan James, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial or Mason Greenwood and get tackles in or around the box, some ankles
could have been broken for our players.
“I just want them to be protected. There should have been a red card for Oriol Romeu when he almost crippled Mason Greenwood in the Southampton game, maybe that would have helped us.
“And the same when Mark Noble should’ve been sent off half a yard in front of me at West Ham when he battered Aaron Wan-Bissaka.”
Solskjaer confirmed that defender Luke Shaw will miss the game as he recovers from an ankle injury but full-back Brandon Williams is training again after a nasty head wound against Southampton.
The United boss also looks set to stick with stand-in keeper Sergio Romero who has played in all this season’s FA Cup games.
On Chelsea’s side, Lampard has warned their leaky rearguard to cut out ‘individual errors’ or face a Wembley hiding today.
Despite sitting third in the table, the Blues came into the weekend boasting the worst defensive record in the top half of the Premier League. They have already conceded 49 times in 36 games in that competition – and have kept only two clean sheets in eight outings since emerging from lockdown.
And Lamps is well aware his mistakeriddled defence will have to be at their meanest to stand any chance of nullifying Solskjaer’s attack. Asked if he is concerned about his side’s frailties at the back, Lampard insisted: “We are working on it and, to be fair, we always work on it specifically. There’s never a neglect of our defensive work. It has to be constant and repeated regularly.
“A big problem of ours this season is that we’ve been committing individual errors – sometimes in games that we have really good comfort in, it’s been a counter attack or cross into our box.
“But we’ve had individual errors in key moments that have changed the face of the result – and it’s been too regular.”