Solskjaer criticises United for being sluggish in the first half against Newcastle
Manchester United caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer criticised his team for not hitting their strides in the first half of the 2-0 victory over Newcastle United on Wednesday night. United dominated the game but couldn’t replicate the form that they had shown in their last three games.
However, the introduction of Romelu Lukaku in the second half turned things around for the Red Devils. The Belgian scored with his first touch off the ball after Marcus Rashford’s free-kick was fumbled by Martin Dubravka. Rashford then capped off another wonderful performance as he laid the finishing touches on a classic counter-attack in the 80th minute.
Solskjaer showered praises on Lukaku and Rashford after the 2-0 win on Wednesday.
“It was a very professional performance. We never hit the heights that we can do but I felt we were in control, kept plugging away,” he told Sky Sports.
“It was a great goal again by Marcus and a great reaction again by Rom – good first touch as a sub.
“In the first half it was sluggish, it was almost like a testimonial at times – too slow, too many touches and too many square passes and back
“But the big, big plus was the clean sheet.”
Lukaku has two in two as a substitute, while Rashford was again United’s stand-out forward operating centrally.
Solskjaer believes this gives him a nice problem.
“You can play with two of them, no problem,” he added. “One can play on the right, they can play two through the middle. It gives me options.”
