Solskjaer hails United after sinking Cottagers
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hailed Manchester United’s win at Fulham and a return to the top four as perfect preparation for the Champions League clash with Paris St-germain on Tuesday.
United sealed victory at Craven Cottage as a Paul Pogba brace and a fine Anthony Martial strike extended Solskjaer’s unbeaten start as interim manager.
Pogba stole the show, but Martial impressed on his recall with Diogo Dalot, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling helping to keep a clean sheet after coming back into the side, with Romelu Lukaku and Juan Mata also given a chance to impress.
Asked if this was ideal preparation for facing PSG, Solskjaer said: “Yes, I would have to say so because it’s a tough place to come.
“We gave them the first 10 minutes, maybe played into their hands. They had some counter-attacks, they put the ball into the box a few times, but then after we scored the first goal we played a fantastic last 80 minutes.”
The victory lifts United into the Premier League top four for the first time since the opening weekend of the season – having been 11 points adrift when Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho in December.
“(Being in the top four) is a big thing,” conceded Solskjaer. “So let’s make sure we stay in there and we’ll do that if we get some help, but we’ve got to concentrate on ourselves, we can’t really think about what other teams do.” Appointed a month before Solskjaer, Fulham boss Claudio Ranieri was subjected to chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” early in the second half by the irked Craven Cottage faithful.
His side had started brightly enough and Luciano Vietto struck wide inside the opening minute, before Schurrle had two attempts.
Playing with a four-man backline, Ranieri’s men held tight until United took the lead in the 14th minute.
Fulham failed to track Pogba’s run and he lashed home from an acute angle.
Nine minutes later, United won possession and Phil Jones found Martial just inside his own half. The Frenchman took off, bursting forward under pressure from Denis Odoi and jinked past Le Marchand before finding the bottom corner. Calum Chambers was denied by David De Gea before the break, with the second half just eight minutes old when the natives became restless. “You don’t know what you’re doing” chanted a number inside Craven Cottage as Ranieri brought on Cyrus Christie for Schurrle, with fans singing the name of substitute Ryan Sessegnon.
Ander Herrera stung the palms of Rico, before Pogba put the game to bed in the 65th minute, scoring from the spot after Le Marchand fouled Juan Mata.
Ranieri felt his players lacked the composure at 1-0 down to get themselves back into the game.
“We started well,” he said. “But when you play against champions you have to stay calm.”