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Ole Gunnar Solskjær is determined that Manchester United remain just as focused on winning when they play against so-called lesser teams as they were in the victory against Manchester City on Saturday.
The champions were beaten 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium, with United as impressive as they were in the midweek win against Tottenham. Yet despite Chelsea also previously being beaten and the leaders Liverpool held to a draw, Solskjær’s side have lost against Crystal Palace, West Ham, Newcastle and Bournemouth.
Their next league matches are against Everton, Watford, Newcastle and Burnley and the manager is intent that performance does not dip.
Asked if the four league losses were as a result of a mental issue, Solskjær said: “That’s up to me, to make sure that for every single game they know they have to earn the right to win a game of football. You’ve got to earn the right to win. Sometimes you’ve got to earn it by passing quicker, winning the ball back – there are different ways of winning games of football.
“We’ll work with the mentality of the boys. It’s been very much about margins in those games [we lost]. But if you look behind the results I’m not as negative as you are. I’m not so worried, so concerned. If the boys are then telling me they can’t get up for these games – then we’ve got a problem. Then I’ve really got to work with them because when I played that’s how we won the league. We never gave points away against the lesser teams, the not-so-good teams. The Premier League is difficult – if you don’t have that mentality, you won’t get results. I’ll work on the mentality.”
Victory against City took United to fifth place with 24 points, five away from a Champions League berth, and Solskjær praised how the champions were taken apart. “We know we can play quick, attacking football when we get the shape right, as we did,” he said. “The attitude was spot-on and every time we had the ball it seemed like we could carve them open. It doesn’t matter if it was two passes or four passes or 10. The first half was attacking football as it should be played.”
Jesse Lingard was a standout performer in the Spurs and City wins following injury and a prolonged dip in form. He was also reprimanded in the summer by the manager for a video posted on social media and Solskjær alluded to this.
“He’s Man United through and through. He’s a red, he’s got a great attitude and a great work rate. Every one of us have things to deal with on the pitch and off the pitch and what he has had to deal with, that will be between us. It’s great to see him back.
“You can criticise anyone about anything but for me as a manager, I have to look after these boys in the good and the bad times. It’s great to work with him. I had him in the reserves; gave him his debut against Burnley. It’s good to see him back to his old self.”
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