We need to be better at seeing out these games into wins: Ole
MANCHESTER United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits his side did not deserve to win against Aston Villa but insists he is not yet concerned about their league position.
Having recovered from Jack Grealish’s brilliant opener they took the lead through goalkeeper Tom Heaton’s own goal and Victor Lindelof’s header only to pegged back to 2-2 by Tyrone Mings’ volley.
Victory would have lifted United to fifth, just six points behind Chelsea, but a second successive league draw moved them to only ninth.
“First half it seemed we couldn’t get to grips with going 1-0 down, I didn’t think we dealt with that particularly well,” said the Norwegian, whose side have made their worst start to a league campaign since 1988-99.
“Second half was better. We created loads of big chances that should have won this game but overall I don’t think we deserved to, especially after the first half.
“I wouldn’t have sat here and talked about us being fifth if we had got that one goal extra, so the league table at this point is not the biggest concern because it is so tight.
“I just need to make sure that we get performances and get three or four performances after each other — and results.
“What I can say is so far we have had the lead in so many games and we haven’t been able to win those games, six or seven times we’ve been 1-0 up, or 2-1 or 3-2 like last week.
“We should be better at seeing those games into wins.”
Solskjaer has won just six of his 22 league matches, but he maintains there are signs of progress.
“I think there is loads of evidence these boys are closer to winning games than losing games,” he said.
• FORMER Brighton boss Chris Hughton is favourite to take over from Quique Sanchez Flores who became the second manager to be sacked by the struggling club this season.
Sanchez Flores’ second spell in charge of the Premier League’s bottom side lasted just 85 days and came to an end following Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Southampton.
THE greatest indictment of this latest disappointing Manchester United performance and result is that it was wholly predictable.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side is often second-best to enterprising and adventurous visitors and so it was against Aston Villa, who left Old Trafford ruing two points lost as well as celebrating one gained.
Led by Jack Grealish (below), who opened the scoring brilliantly after 11 minutes, Dean Smith’s newly-promoted side once again showed that they have the talent and ability to stay clear of a relegation battle, even if they remain in the lower reaches of the Premier League table.
An away win would not have been entirely undeserved.
Instead, a Tom Heaton own goal — forced by Marcus Rashford’s header — cancelled out Grealish’s opener shortly before half time. Victor Lindelof then briefly appeared to set United on course for an unlikely victory but Tyrone Mings restored parity only two minutes later to rightfully punish a lacklustre home display.
T h e r e w a s just one United change from last weekend’s draw away to Sheffield United. The fact that Phil Jones was the one to lose his place was perhaps not so surprising, but several others could count themselves lucky to be re
LEICESTER boss Brendan Rodgers has ruled himself out of the running to be Arsenal’s next manager.
The 46-year-old Ulsterman has been linked with the job after Unai Emery was sacked by the Gunners on Friday but insisted he was staying after the Foxes’ last-gasp 2-1 win over Everton.
Kelechi Iheanacho’s stoppage-time strike — given by VAR —broke the Toffees’ hearts to leave them two points above the relegation zone.
Jamie Vardy cancelled out Richarlison’s first-half opener to tained. Not one member of the starting line-up made the 6,000mile round trip to Astana this week yet began as if jet-lagged.
Fred and Andreas Pereira, United’s central midfield pairing, were especially poor in the dismal showing at Bramall Lane but without either Scott McTominay or Paul Pogba available, they picked up where they left off.
Once again, United lacked any sort of control or authority in the middle of the park and the result was a wildly open game.
Grealish was a nuisance, drawing several panicked fouls from Fred and Pereira in the opening exchanges with his unpredictable movement.
Villa’s recent inconsistency can be largely explained by their captain’s absence. When he plays, he usually produces something special and so it was here.
It began with a brilliant burst from deep by Anwar El Ghazi, who injured himself in the process of delivering a cross to the far post. It ran all the way to the left flank, where Grealish collected the ball, stepped inside away from Pereira and expertly whipped the ball into the top right-hand corner.
De Gea did not attempt to reach the ball and simply watched it rise over him, as if ac