By Mike Whalley — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has pledged to stick by David de Gea for now, but has refused to rule out the possibility of using deputy Sergio Romero when fit again.
De Gea will keep his place for Sunday’s Premier League visit to Huddersfield following a series of high-profile mistakes.
The Spain goalkeeper has not kept a clean sheet for 13 matches, and was at fault for Marcos Alonso’s equaliser as Chelsea gained a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford last Sunday.
That result caused severe harm to United’s chances of finishing in the top four, and qualifying for next season’s Champions League, but manager Solskjaer says he retains faith in the goalkeeper.
Romero injury
However, any possibility of bringing in Romero for the match at Huddersfield was ended when the Argentina goalkeeper suffered a knee injury in training on Thursday.
Asked if Romero might have started had he been fit, Solskjaer said: “It’s ifs and buts and hypothetical questions. Sergio knows how highly I rate him.”
The manager made clear that he plans to stick with De Gea for now. “He will play,” Solskjaer said. “Sergio was injured yesterday and didn’t train. David’s been training well this week and he will play.
“Of course I trust him. He has been fantastic this season. Towards the end of the season, he’s been in headlines for the wrong reasons but he has to deal with that. The goalkeeping department are a fantastic group. They are such a tight-knitted group.
“They have experienced better times than just now but David is ready for Sunday.
“David’s confident, and he is looking forward to the next few games. He wants to prove what a good goalkeeper he is. With the performances he has put in over the past few years, David has got all my confidence.”
Striker problems
Solskjaer acknowledged that United’s goalscoring record has to improve if they are stand any chance of finishing in the top four.
Marcus Rashford has gone six games without scoring, while fellow forward Romelu Lukaku has not found the net in eight matches.
Anthony Martial, also without a goal in six appearances, has faced heavy criticism from fans for his performances since signing a five-year contract in January.
Solskjaer said: “Anthony has got goals in him. He’s got loads of goals in him. It’s up to us to move it forward and get that into him again. I’m sure we will see him scoring goals for Manchester United in the future.
“We’ve got goalscorers in our team. We’ve got them in midfield, we’ve got them up front, we’ve got loads of goals in our team.”
Searching for efficiency
The manager acknowledged that his forwards have not been ruthless enough of late, but suggested that the quality of performances has not dipped as much as suggested by their recent results, with United having won just two of their past 10 matches in all competitions.
“We haven’t scored enough of the chances we have created, but that happens,” Solskjaer said. “At the beginning, when I came in, we were more efficient in terms of scoring chances created.
“And the other side of it was that David was unbelievable at the other end, and when we had a few chances against us at the other end, we didn’t concede goals.
“Now that has maybe changed for us a bit. The margins and details are maybe going against us. We need to look behind the results. It’s not been so up and down.
“As a team and as a striker, you’re always facing the little margins there. We’ve been working on creating chances and scoring.”
The post Manchester United team news: Solskjaer admits he could drop De Gea – but not yet appeared first on inews.co.uk.
from Football – inews.co.uk http://bit.ly/2IYPDvc
Post a Comment