[ad_1]
As the moans progress, blaming your opponents’ official website for not receiving a penalty must be among the strangest ever uttered by a Premier League manager.
Yet that was exactly what happened Sunday night when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, clearly taken aback by an article on chelseafc.com, pointed out in his post-match interview.
Having seen referee Stuart Attwell deny Manchester United a penalty shot despite Callum Hudson-Odoi appearing to be handling the ball and VAR recommending a monitor check, the Norwegian knew exactly who to target.
When asked if he knew why his team had not received a penalty, a frustrated Solskjaer told Sky Sports: ‘It’s not right, is it? It is all these external influences. VAR talk before the game about Harry [Maguire], cheeky when they [Chelsea] put that on the website. That influences the referees. ‘
Solskjaer was referring to an article on Chelsea’s website in which the club said Maguire had “ survived VAR reviews of a possible penalty foul to César Azpilicueta and a violent defiance of Michy Batshuayi that may well have affected the result ” of the last games against the Blues.
But while the article was written with at least a little club bias, Solskjaer’s claim that it somehow influenced Attwell’s decision not to give a penalty seems nothing short of outrageous.
Here, Sportsmail takes a closer look at some of the other complaints the Manchester United manager has raised so far this season.
FULL SCHEDULE AND START TIMES
You wouldn’t have known that United had just beaten Everton 3-1 on the road based on Solskjaer’s epic post-match spiel in November.
Having watched his players help keep his job safe just 48 hours after returning from a miserable Champions League loss to Istanbul Basaksehir, he decided to criticize the Premier League bosses for their poor programming.
Solskjaer called the decision to give his team a Saturday start at 12:30 pm after a 4,000-mile round trip a “joke,” claiming they had been “primed to fail” at Goodison.
“Our guys were prepared to fail today with the schedule,” he was enraged. ‘How can players be expected to perform with the 12.30 start time? It is an absolute joke.
‘Of course we try to move this game around. What was the point of playing on Saturday lunchtime when we could play on Sunday due to the subsequent international break?
“ I pushed my club to really fight in this one and give us half a chance. But it just got canceled and we were told “No, it has been selected.”
“There have been too many serious injuries in the Premier League this season which can be due to physical or mental fatigue.
‘We want this product to be the best in the world. We don’t want him to harm any player. These are difficult times for everyone, not just football, and we must take care of everyone.
Use common sense and order the schedule. This is such a serious problem that we do not deal with these players. They are not robots, they are human beings.
“We come back from Turkey around four in the morning on Thursday and we are asked to play at 12.30 on Saturday.”
Solskjaer also blamed Luke Shaw for a hamstring injury at the early start, adding: ‘We have Luke Shaw injured because we’ve already played a lot of games this season, we were in Turkey on Wednesday, we came back at 4am on Thursday and we will play a start at lunch time on Saturday.
“It’s an absolute disaster and I can’t praise the guys enough for the character they have shown.”
NO FANS IN OLD TRAFFORD
Seemingly forgetting that all teams are in the same boat this season, Solskjaer expressed frustration that United cannot have fans at Old Trafford this season.
Trying to explain his team’s poor home form early in the campaign, the former Molde boss claimed that supporters could have made the difference in games against Big Six rivals Chelsea and Arsenal.
Solskjaer said: ‘The two games against Chelsea and Arsenal were very close matches. I’m 100 percent sure that if we had our fans, that would have helped us and maybe it would have turned us on. [with] that little X factor we needed.
But now it’s a different feeling, playing without the fans behind the goal at Stretford End. They know how to score a goal for us.
It’s not as easy as: “Why don’t we win at home? Why don’t we do so well?” Each game lives its own life, I think. There are reasons why we haven’t achieved a home win in the league so far.
“In Norway, we have at least 100 fans and they help. Here it is completely sterile and it is different. ‘
GAME CHANGING ERRORS
Unlike his attack on the Chelsea website, Solskjaer had a good point when he highlighted refereeing errors during United’s shocking loss at home to Sheffield United in January.
The coach was frustrated to see the Blades’ first goal, the rocky bottom, held up after Billy Sharp pushed David de Gea, while there was also controversy when Anthony Martial’s tie was ruled out over a similar incident that involved Maguire.
And after expressing disappointment after the match, Solskjaer made the decision to reveal that a report on the game had confirmed that both decisions were wrong.
The Norwegian said he saw the report from the match delegate, who is usually a former player or coach as opposed to the referee’s advisor, and claimed that United should have benefited twice, turning a 2-1 loss into a 2-0 win -1.
“The momentum changed for us with the Sheffield United game,” Solskjaer said.
‘I don’t like to bring this up, but I have the delegate’s report on the referee and both decisions were wrong.
They have admitted that their aim should have been annulled and our aim should have been maintained. That’s a big, big change of momentum for us.
‘It’s more likely that when you go up 1-0 instead of losing 1-0, you’ll go ahead and win that game. So those are good margins and it has been like that this season. ‘
THE PENALTY ROW
Just when he thought the debate over how many penalties Manchester United take had started to fade, Solskjaer rekindled it on Sunday night.
Having criticized the Chelsea website for trying to highlight some of Maguire’s shortcomings, the Norwegian also decided to involve Frank Lampard in his post-match regret.
The former England star was fired by Chelsea more than a month ago, but that didn’t stop Solskjaer from referring to him in his interview with Sky Sports.
“You can read what they say about Harry Maguire and pressure the referees to give us penalties,” he said.
‘We saw that there was a manager, was it Frank? [Lampard] what started it? There is a lot of talk that we get penalties when there is no doubt and of course we should have had a penalty today. ‘
Solskjaer was referring to Lampard’s comments in October last year, when the then Blues manager made reference to the number of penalties United receives.
Lampard said: ‘I’m certainly interested in seeing what others are saying. I talked to the guys about how many penalties they take here, in the last two seasons they are way ahead in Europe ”.
Solskjaer, of course, is still involved in an ongoing war of words with Jurgen Klopp over United’s scoring record this season.
At the beginning of January, the Liverpool manager said: ‘I heard now that Man United had more penalties in two years than I have in five and a half years. I have no idea if it’s my fault or how it can happen. ”
Solskjaer responded a few days later, stating that comments from Klopp, Lampard and Spurs coach José Mourinho could be a way of trying to “influence the referees.”
LACK OF PREPARATION
Despite being given one more week to prepare for his first game of the season after his exploits in Europe, Solskjaer was still not a happy man.
United began their campaign with a home game against Crystal Palace on September 19, having played their last competitive game against Sevilla in the Europa League semi-finals on August 16.
Palace, inspired by former United winger Wilfried Zaha, won 3-1 at Old Trafford, condemning United to the worst possible start to the new season.
Trying to explain the bad form at home of his team, Solskjaer said: ‘The first [against Crystal Palace]… we certainly looked at it thinking we didn’t have any preparation. ‘
The former Cardiff boss also admitted that Palace ‘deserved’ his win, but his comments were the first of many complaints about the scheduling of Premier League matches in another Covid-hit season.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
[ad_2]
