Solskjaer staying strong amid speculation over Man Utd future

 

Amid questions over his Manchester United future, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is staying strong.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insisted he would "stay strong" amid speculation about his future.

Solskjaer is under pressure at Old Trafford after United slumped to a shock 2-1 Champions League loss at Istanbul Basaksehir on Wednesday.

The Norwegian refused to be overly drawn on his future, but said he was remaining upbeat.

"I decline to comment on such a thing. Of course it's early on," Solskjaer told a news conference.

"Opinions are out there all the time, you have got stay strong and I am employed by the club to do a job and I do that to the best of my ability with our staff."

Sitting 15th in the Premier League, United have suffered back-to-back losses ahead of Saturday's trip to Everton.

Solskjaer said the defeats hurt, with Wednesday's loss ending United's longest away winning run in all competitions in their history (10 straight).

"Of course the last two results have been a punch in our stomach," he said.

"The only way I know, and I hope the players know, to respond is to get your act together for the Everton game because we know it will be difficult. I am glad we've got a game already on Saturday."

Goals from Demba Ba and Edin Visca had the hosts in control in Istanbul before Anthony Martial's 43rd-minute header, but United fell in Group H, which they top.

Ba's goal saw the forward receive a long pass on halfway and run through onto goal before beating Dean Henderson in a one-on-one.

"Obviously, it's not a goal you normally concede. We've not done our duties there and done our roles," Solskjaer said.

"I've got to say it's my responsibility there. We were going to play a short corner but we forgot to do our defending duties just after we played a couple of passes there."