Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: We will keep working on set-pieces

Manchester United had to settle for a point at St Mary’s after Southampton held the Red Devils to a 1-1 draw in the Premier League on Sunday. United went behind through an own goal in the first half but Mason Greenwood got the Reds back on level terms at the start of the second period. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were expected to push on from there for the winning goal. But the second goal never arrived as both teams had to be content with a point in the end. After the match, United manager Solskjaer asserted that the Reds will continue working on set-pieces. A number of corners and free-kicks looked to create good opportunities for the visitors at St Mary’s but the players ultimately lacked the finishing touch.

Notably in the first half, Anthony Martial’s header bundled away from the line after a dangerous Bruno Fernandes free-kick from the right before Paul Pogba twice went close from Luke Shaw’s dead-ball deliveries. At the end of the first half, Victor Lindelof connected with a corner from the left and forced Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy into a low save. Speaking after the match, Solskjaer seemed pleased with the threat created from set-plays by United but disappointed that they could not make the most of it.

Threat from set-plays

“Eric Ramsey [coach] has come in and he’s working really well with the boys,” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said in his post-match press conference. “I thought we should have and could have had two or three goals from set-plays. It’s one pleasing, but two disappointing that we couldn’t get the ball over the line. Nemanja [Matic], Paul, Anthony, Victor and H [Harry Maguire] had big chances for a few there.”

With a lot of tall players, who are very good at heading the ball, Solskjaer asserted that they will continue working hard on them during the training sessions. Ole also assured that United will match that work on the other side of the ball, with defending set-plays as well.

“We’ll keep on working and hopefully it’ll be efficient in the end, and we’ll score goals and stop conceding,” he added. “We had a big chance in the second half where we could have lost the game, so we need to tighten up there as well.”

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer not happy with final 15 minutes

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also spoke about his team selection and how he was not happy with the way the side played towards the end of the match. “We wanted to get Anto [Martial] going, make it to have two forwards. Anto drifted to the left and Mason was coming inside from the right. Mason scores a very good goal. He didn’t have one of his best days, but he still contributes and when Jadon [Sancho] came on, I thought he looked really sharp for the first 10-15 minutes, but the whole team fell away a bit and the last 15 minutes we didn’t play particularly well,” he added.

“We’re still very early on [in the season] and we need to work to get them fit. We’ll be better off next week. It’s a point from a losing position, but still we want two more in every single game but now it’s about working on fitness, a couple of other issues we need to sort and then we should be ready for Wolverhampton.”