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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suggested that opposing coaches might be trying to influence referees by mentioning Manchester United’s penalty shootout record in the wake of Jurgen Klopp’s comments about his contrasting shooting history from the point.
A recent uptick in luck means the Red Devils are tied on points with Premier League leaders Liverpool, whose poor performance on Monday saw them fall in a surprising 1-0 defeat at Southampton.
Klopp accepted that they were far from the best at St Mary’s, but argued that his team should have received a penalty for a foul on Sadio Mane, before targeting rivals along the M62.
“We can’t change,” said the Reds coach, who welcomes United at Anfield on January 17. “I hear now that Man United had more penalties in two years than I have in five and a half years. I have no idea if that is my fault, or how it can happen.”
When Klopp’s remarks were presented to Solskjaer ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final against Manchester City, he said with a laugh: “And that’s a fact, probably.
“That’s probably my answer, it’s a fact that we have more than them.
“But maybe they should … well, we’ve had … I don’t know how many penalties they have had. I don’t count how many penalties they have.
“So if you want to spend time worrying about when we get fouled in the box, then I don’t spend time on that.”
Whether Solskjaer was comparing Klopp’s comments to former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez’s spiel about Alex Ferguson is something to be interpreted, but his frustration with other coaches is not.
United have received six league penalties this season compared to five won by Klopp’s men, although there have been 42 in all competitions since Solskjaer took office in December 2018 compared to 19 for Liverpool.
But the Norwegian believes his team should have had even more and pointed to the FA Cup semi-final loss to Chelsea, suggesting that Frank Lampard had an impact by saying in preparation that United were getting a series of favorable decisions from VAR .
“I can’t speak for other coaches, why do they say things like this,” Solskjaer said after recent comments from Klopp and Tottenham coach José Mourinho about the number of shots from point given to United.
“Obviously I felt like it worked out last year in the FA Cup semi-final because Frank talked about it and we had a penalty shot that we should have had that we didn’t get, so maybe it’s a way to influence the referees. I don’t know.
“But I don’t worry about that. You know, when they fouls our players, I think it’s a penalty, it’s only when he’s inside the area.”
The FA Cup loss to Chelsea was one of three semi-final defeats that United lost in the 2019-20 season, between the Carabao Cup exit to City and the Europa League disappointment to the Seville.
Solskjaer is now looking to get lucky for the fourth time reaching his first final as United manager when Pep Guardiola leads his team to an empty Old Trafford on Wednesday.
“In the three semi-finals last year, Anthony (Martial) came in and he should have had a penalty,” he said, referring to the FA Cup loss to Chelsea. “They are good margins when you get to a semi.
“Even against Sevilla I thought we had played one of our best games and we were very, very close to beating a very difficult team.
“We have learned hopefully, but it is not about learning. Sometimes there are good margins and other times it is quality and we are a better team now than six or 12 months ago.
“Hopefully we have quality when it matters, when we have an opportunity or when we have a one-on-one and the defenders block or defend well.
“Semis, you earn the right to win a trophy by passing, you play increasingly difficult opponents in each game, and naturally a semi-final is more difficult than a quarter-final.
“A few weeks ago I found the quarter-finals fantastic. We showed quality, strength in depth and hopefully this time we can go one step further.”
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