Solskjaer Admits – Reds Were Sloppy

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits his side were “sloppy” at times as he began his permanent reign with a 2-1 win over Watford.

Solskjaer was given a warm welcome as United lined up at Old Trafford two days later, but his side could only stutter over the line against Javi Gracia’s high-flying Watford.

Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial struck for the hosts on Saturday, when Watford had far more shots and deserved more than Abdoulaye Doucoure’s late consolation.

Put to Solskjaer that it was a good result but perhaps a less impressive performance, the newly-appointed manager said: “Well summarised. “(In the) first 20 minutes we started so slow and sloppy and you could see we’ve had players out with injury and the international break.

“We’ve not been able to train them that much, so it’s one of those first games after an international break that you look forward to but know there might be a potential banana skin, because Watford are a good side. “They didn’t have that many players away and I think they deserved to take the lead.

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But after we scored, for the rest of the first half we played some great counter-attacking stuff (and) defended well. “We had to because they were dominant but Chris (Smalling) and Jonah (Phil Jones) especially were fantastic, (they) kept us in it. “In the second half we started sloppier but at 2-0 we were in control until they scored and then anything can happen, but three points is all you can get.”