David De Gea says the Manchester United players have no idea how to escape the woeful run of form that has manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reportedly on the brink of being removed as manager.
De Gea saved the same penalty twice – the first was retaken – on Saturday but was powerless to prevent Watford sticking four past him in a humiliating 4-1 defeat for one of world football’s most successful institutions.
It is now seven defeats from 13 games across all competitions and just one win in seven Premier League games for United, leaving the side’s hopes of securing a Champions League spot in jeopardy, let alone challenging for the title.
Solskjaer spent more than £120m on new players in the summer transfer window, bringing in the likes of Jadon Sancho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Raphael Varane, yet the team looks no closer to rivalling the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City.
And De Gea admitted the loss at Vicarage Road was a fresh embarrassment – but insists the ire of fans shouldn’t be directed at the manager.
“I think it was embarrassing to be honest, to see Manchester United play like we did today,” said De Gea.
“It’s not acceptable to be honest. The way we’re doing things, the way we’re playing.
“It’s easy to talk about the manager or staff, but sometimes it’s the players. We are professionals, we’re playing for Manchester United so we need to show more, much more than we are doing.”
De Gea saved a retaken penalty from Ismaila Sarr in a frantic first half but couldn’t prevent Joshua King and then Sarr himself from finding the net before the break. Half-time substitute Donny van de Beek pulled one back for United, only for captain Harry Maguire to be sent off for two yellow cards in seven minutes.
United laboured to create chances with 10 men and suffered in injury time with goals from Joao Pedro and Emmanuel Dennis wrapping up a famous victory for the hosts to lift them four points clear of the relegation zone.
“It was an embarrassing first half,” admitted De Gea. “We could have conceded four goals in 45 minutes. It was hard to watch the team play like we did today. It was a nightmare… after a nightmare… again for a long time. It’s not acceptable.
“I don’t know [how we correct this] to be honest. The players are trying, we’re trying to give our best and fight for the team. But for sure something is wrong. You can see in the games what we’re doing is very low level, very poor. I just say sorry to the fans once again.
“I’ve been through difficult moments in my career and I always believe in myself, always back myself. We are professional players. Sometimes there are difficult moments but we have to be strong in the mind, strong in the body.”
Solskjaer himself was asked after the game if his job was secure.
“I’ve never said I feel safe – I will never say that I feel safe,” said the Norwegian.
“I work for the club and with the club as hard as I can, with a great staff, and any conversation between me and the club is not for me and you, it’s between us.
“I’m the manger and I will take the flak and take the responsibility – the players are working as hard as they can. The fans are really disappointed I understand… we all understand.
“They’ve supported us through thick and thin, they’ve been with us through this rebuild. We get to this season after finishing third and second and we sign top players, expectations go up and we’ve not had a result or the performances.
“They’re right to say their opinion, I’m not surprised after a day like this because for the first-half we were way below what we can do and what we should do.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3ctRipw
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