Manchester United didn’t deserve to lose, says Solskjaer

Manchester United Interim Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has expressed dissappointed at his team’s 0-2 loss against English Premier League rivals at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Solskjaer suffered his first Premier League defeat since being appointed Manchester United’s interim manager as Arsenal leapfrogged their opponents to move into the top four.

Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka beat David de Gea with a swerving shot from outside the penalty area in the 12th minute, before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doubled the hosts’ lead from the penalty spot in the 69th minute after Fred’s foul on Alexandre Lacazette.

Our correspondent reports that this was only United’s second defeat in 18 league and cup games under Solskjaer.

Solskjaer in his post-match reaction said he was happy with his team’s performance but disappointed with the result.

“I am disappointed with the result. Then you look back at the performance and you can’t say this was a game we deserved the lose.

“We created at least five good chances, hit the wood work twice. They (Arsenal) scored with their first shot and got a penalty.

“So the performance was good but result disappointing,” he said.

He, however, admitted that his team started the game on the back foot which caused them all three points as Arsenal made them pay for their mistakes.

“We started sloppy and that was probably what led to the first goal we conceded. We didn’t really get up to him (Granit Xhaka), so we gave him time to have a strike.

“I don’t think the second goal was a penalty but the referee had to make a decision and he might be disappointed when he sees it.

“When you see the boys work as hard as they do and the attitude they show every single day during training, I think the boys were a bit lethargic in the first 10 minutes. We didn’t really have that zip about us.

“But then, when we got going, we created chances but just didn’t take them,” he said.

He noted that his team managed to finish the game without any setbacks, adding that they would be ready both physically and mentally for their next game against Wolves in the FA Cup quarter-final action on Saturday.

“Its been fantastic so far. Today is of course the lowest we’ve been and we lost a chance to really put pressure on Tottenham Hotspurs but we’re still in the fight.

“You’ve got to get on with but you’ve got to look beyond the result sometimes and sometimes we’ve won games that we didn’t deserve to win.

“Today we lost a game that we didn’t deserve to lose,” he said.