Solskjaer suggests being 'nice' cost Man Utd points

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer thinks his players should have made more of a fuss over Manchester United’s disallowed goal after it was revealed it was a mistake to rule it out.

Anthony Martial thought he had equalised against Sheffield United only for his close range finish to be chalked off after it was deemed Harry Maguire had fouled Aaron Ramsdale in the build-up. Solskjaer was aggrieved at the decision at the time and revealed in his press conference that the delegates’ report from the game said the goal should have stood.

And the United boss thinks referee Peter Bankes might have changed his mind had the players put a little more pressure on him.

“I think whenever a team feels unfairly treated there will be a reaction but human error is.. I have no problem with human error. Absolutely no problem. And I understand why the decisions were made. Unfortunately, they went against us and they were wrong. That’s football for you but that’s maybe what VAR should have been in for. Maybe we should have made more of a fuss about it,” Solskjaer said.

“We are a bunch of nice lads. Maybe we should have really hung on to that or made them look at it before the game started again, so those are things that we have to learn from and use as motivation or energy. You are not going to expect to get anything for free.”

As Solskjaer’s side prepare to host Southampton in the league and get back to winning ways the United boss hit back at claims that they have been getting all of the luck when it comes to decisions.

“There has been a narrative for too long about the decisions we have got for us and I can look at many decisions this season that we feel haven’t,” Solskjaer continued. “Even the first league game, Victor… they agreed on that one. That wasn’t a penalty. But that doesn’t change where we are now. We just move on.”

After defeat to Sheffield United and a draw against Arsenal, Solskjaer is looking for his side to move on against Southampton on Tuesday night. Having fallen behind Manchester City at the top of the table Solskjaer is looking for his team to go on a consistent run.

“Every team is in the same situation and position. Whoever recovers the best and performs the best will win, whoever's coping with the situation the best. We want to put a run together. Since 1 November, we've lost against Sheffield United and that's the only defeat we've had in the league,” he said.

“We need to get back to performing at that level and standard. Sometimes you've got to be lucky and sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. More times than not, it's best to just focus on yourself and keep on being consistent in your behaviours. If you prepare the same way and approach a game the right way, you'll get results.”