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Publication date: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 8:10 AM
Man Utd forward Mason Greenwood came off the bench to conclude his third round victory at the Carabao Cup in Luton, before manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer offered him a one-on-one header practice.
The England international turned up late alongside Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes as Man Utd struggled to fire their Sky Bet Championship hosts.
Juan Mata’s penalty at the edge of the break was all that separated the sides before both Rashford and Greenwood struck late. to seal a flattering 3-0 win.
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Greenwood will be delighted to get his scoring tally up and running for the season as the 18-year-old appears to get over an off-field incident in Iceland that sent him home from international duty for violating Covid guidelines.
Solskjaer praised the forward but has urged Greenwood to improve his heading ability as he looks to shape his complete game.
“He had a fantastic season last season,” Solskjaer said after the game. “Getting his goal was important for him, and for Marcus, it’s always good for forwards to have that confidence and that feeling of scoring, to have that hunger again.
“He can play in the middle, I think when he was a kid, not yet physically grown, sometimes it’s good to be looking forward instead of being the foil and being the battering ram.
“I also scored most of my goals from outside the posts, I was not in the middle.
“However, for him to be number nine, he needs to learn how to head a ball. I keep telling him that and if he wants to do it, he can come practice with me. “
Solskjaer admitted that he originally planned to introduce his trio from the bench, but felt Luton press his side hard as he sought to get his players back to match sharpness.
“It was not planned for them to play,” he said. “I don’t plan much in advance, you just see where you have to make changes.
“They have a decent training session tomorrow so I didn’t want them to play too much.
“They did well coming in, they got their careers, they did the job. You can see we need match time, these players need match time for sharpness.
“The standards in English football are improving, that was also their cup team, so the standards are high in the Championship. They have done well and made us work hard to overcome it. “
Only captain Harry Maguire held his place since Saturday’s Premier League loss to Crystal Palace when Dean Henderson and Donny Van De Beek made their full debut.
But even with the entire rotation, there was no room on the Man Utd team for Chris Smalling.
The England defender spent last season on loan at Roma and seemed ready to return there with a permanent deal, but Solskjaer revealed that the club is waiting for what they consider to be an acceptable offer from the Serie A side.
“At the moment we have not had any offer at the level we want, that is the situation at the moment,” added the Norwegian.
“It is not my turn, it is not me who is negotiating between the two clubs, but we have not had enough offers, so that’s it.”
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