Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confessed that he was bitterly disappointed to see his side fall 2-1 to Premier League strugglers Sheffield United on Wednesday.

With the chance to head back to the top of the Premier League table, United were nowhere near good enough against a side who had won just once all season beforehand. They conceded early and saw Oliver Burke’s second-half strike, after some poor defending, negate an equaliser from Harry Maguire.

It was United’s first league defeat since the 1-0 loss to Arsenal on November 1, and Solskjaer confessed that his side looked nothing like the team that had enjoyed such a lengthy unbeaten run.

“It wasn’t to be,“ he said (via the club’s official website). „We felt the momentum was going our way as we dominated possession, dominated territory but couldn’t create big enough chances.

„If you don’t when you play against teams in the Premier League, you can get punished and it was a sloppy goal, a very sloppy goal to concede. The second goal we conceded was just so poor. So sloppy. We lost the ball so easily.

?️ „The boys are so disappointed, but we’ve got to pick ourselves up.“#MUFC @HarryMaguire93 pic.twitter.com/kxEo54Oc0J

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 27, 2021

„We get back into position but then we just stopped getting out to the ball. Absolutely three or four decisions there that were completely out of character. That is maybe down to the season it is as well.“

However, despite all his frustration, Solskjaer refused to get carried away with his feelings, accepting that results like this have been a regular part of the current Premier League season.

“No big inquest,“ he continued. „Of course we are disappointed. We have seen so many results this season being out of character and today, yes we’re surprised, but with the world as it is we have been very consistent.

„We have been the most consistent team the last few months and it just hit us today. We dust off the sad feeling and go again. We’ll get over it tonight and start again tomorrow. Saturday it’s Arsenal and a big performance is needed as they’re in good form, good shape and have done well against us before. We know we have to lift ourselves.

“I just think it’s this kind of season, we’ve been terrific, our consistency has been absolutely top and we’ve won narrow games like this one so many times. When it doesn’t happen today, we’re disappointed of course we are because we know we can play better. But I don’t have time for a big, long inquest. We need to get over it and go again.”

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