“The kick-off time set us up to fail.”
Manchester United picked up their first win in three games, beating an out of form Everton 3-1 at Goodison Park in Saturday’s early kick off. But that didn’t stop Ole Gunnar Solskjaer from venting some anger in his post-match interview, when he complained about the 12:30 kick off time, having flown back from Turkey during the week.
Asked whether picking up three points was satisfying, he said, “Of course it is, because we were set up to fail.”
“I said to you before, I wanted to talk about the kick off time. They set up the boys to fail. We got Luke Shaw injured today, because of… We’ve been to Turkey, we’ve played loads of games this season already.
“We’ve been to Turkey Wednesday night, come [back] Thursday morning. We’re back in, playing Saturday lunch time kick off. It’s an absolute shambles.
“I can’t praise the boys enough for the character they’ve shown.”
"The kick-off time set us up to fail."
"It's an absolute shambles. The boys deserve better."
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is furious that Man Utd have had to play on Saturday afternoon having played in Turkey on Wednesday night.
🎙 @TheDesKelly pic.twitter.com/4xjJqMhU8y
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 7, 2020
“Them boys, they deserve better than being thrown out here to fail today.”
Des Kelly tried to steer the conversation onto the questions currently being asked of Manchester United but Ole wouldn’t have it.
“Authorities set us up to fail. How can they set us up after a Champions League game, Wednesday night in Turkey, and set us a Saturday 12:30 kick off?
“Liverpool and City, they played on Tuesday, they’re playing Sunday. We’ve had enough of that.”
He went on, mentioning the extraordinary circumstances football is happening in this season.
“We have to understand, how these players, in these times… Pandemic, how mentally draining that is, physically draining this is. And you set them up like this?
“We lost Luke Shaw because of that.
“Set us up on a Sunday there’s absolutely no problem us playing on Sunday, there’s an international break after.
“No argument whatsoever, it’s just a joke.”
Again, Des Kelly tried to talk about the performances of the players, which Solskjaer described as brilliant… Especially after they flew back from Turkey on Thursday. Did you know they flew back on Thursday?
The United boss explained that Mason Greenwood was left out of the squad because he didn’t feel well on Friday evening despite training well this week. He also clarified that the injury Luke Shaw picked up was a hamstring injury and “could be a long one.”
