Everton vs Manchester United: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ‘doesn’t know’ if players care enough to play for club
Damning statistics from United’s 4-0 thrashing at Everton showed how Solskjaer’s side were outplayed at the very basics to raise thoughts within the manager of who will and won’t be at Old Trafford next season
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted that he does not know if some of his Manchester United players care enough to play for the club after a humiliating defeat at Everton.
United fell to their sixth defeat in eight games under Solskjaer, though this was by far the worst performance of his tenure to date.
Everton were on top from the first whistle and comfortable from the moment that Richarlison opened the scoring after just 13 minutes.
United ran eight kilometres fewer than their opponents and only registered their first shot on target after 85 minutes.
When asked if he felt his some of his players cared to play for the club, Solskjaer puffed out his cheeks and said: “I don’t know, I don’t know.
“You’ve got to ask them, I’ve asked them. You’re not gonna get the answer from me. But if you want to play at this club it has to mean more.
“I want them to be the hardest working team. That’s what we were, under Sir Alex.
“You ran more than anyone every single week, a shift up and down that pitch for your teammates, and we have to stick together as a team.
“We can’t change the whole squad. It has to be one step at a time.
“I said all along I’m going to be successful here and there are players there that won’t be part of that successful team. But there are players there who do have it.”
Solskjaer struggled to describe United’s performance in a word but said sorry to the club’s travelling support for having to watch their team put up such a limp display.
“We’ve got to apologise for the fans because they were fantastic and that performance is not good enough for a Man United team, all the way from me to the players.
“We know we let the fans and the club down today because that performance is difficult to describe because it’s so bad. They beat us on all the basics.
“We were beaten on all the ingredients you need added to your talent today.
“As I said last week there’s no place you can hide on the pitch. It was 85 minutes before we got a strike on target, which is not good enough and we know that.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments