Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists his Manchester United players must be more clinical in front of goal after their narrow in over Kristiansund on Tuesday night.
Juan Mata’s late penalty gave United a 1-0 win over the Norwegian outfit, the team from the town where Solskjaer was born – and for whom the manager’s son Noah made his debut as a late substitute.
However, United spurned several chances and Solskjaer knows his troops must start putting them away ahead of their Premier League opener against Chelsea next week.
The United stars arrived home from Oslo in the early hours of Wednesday morning and Solskjaer has warned them to sharpen up in front of goal.
(Image: ZENPIX LTD)
(Image: ZENPIX LTD)
He said: “We need to be more clinical. That’s where you win games.
“I think we’re looking solid at the back. They had a great chance early in the second half and we should have done better.
“We’re going to keep working, keep improving, keep making the relationships between the players and the patterns work even better.
“It’s not a concern but it’s something we’re going to have to improve on.”
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Solskjaer’s return to his hometown club was marred by the confirmation that defender Eric Bailly faces up to five months out following knee surgery.
Bailly suffered the injury during United’s 2-1 win over Tottenham in their pre-season meeting in Shanghai last week.
With the exception of Pogba who started on the bench, Solskjaer, who watched the game with his other son, Elijah, named a virtually full-strength side against the Norwegians.
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But despite dominating the game for long periods, United failed to break down their opponents until the clock ticked over to stoppage time.
Mata converted the spot-kick after being brought down in the box, but the overall display only served to highlight Solskjaer’s search for new striking options, centred around Paulo Dybala.
The Juventus striker is reportedly involved in talks over a switch to Old Trafford in what could effectively turn into a swap deal, with Romelu Lukaku heading in the opposite direction.
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But Solskjaer would not be drawn on the speculation after full-time, telling manutd.com: “I’m not here to talk about rumours about other team’s players. We’re working on one or two cases. It’s 10 days or so before we start the league and hopefully we can announce a fresh face or two.”
Marcus Rashford missed a pair of early chances for the visitors and Scott McTominay lashed a long-range effort against a post.
Pogba appeared for United as one of a host of chances on the hour mark, while Solskjaer witnessed a proud moment for son Noah when he was introduced for the final four minutes.
