‘We seem to suffer when we don’t get the first contact’: Solskjaer on Man United defending set-pieces

When asked about Man United’s vulnerability while defending set-pieces this season, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: “It’s something that we have addressed that we need to do better at.

“We seem to suffer … when we don’t get the first contact we have been punished quite severely and more often than anyone else.

“We’re quite good at the first contact and defending the ball but, when we haven’t, we have conceded too many goals.

“I think we’re very high up there in the stats of when we don’t get the first contact that we concede. That’s a worry, of course.

“It’s a worry when you concede goals but we have defended really well at times. But, as I’ve said against Man City, when you defend as well as you do in open play and you don’t really concede too many chances, you’re disappointed in big games against good players and good teams that we lose that bit of focus [at set pieces].

“It’s a big part of football. So many goals are conceded from set plays but, as I said we do have a good record of winning the first ball, but when we don’t it seems like it goes in every time.”

After the loss to Man City, Paul Pogba also spoke about United’s frailties in defending set-pieces and losing games because of the small margins. The Red Devils have conceded too many goals from set-pieces this season, so that’s an area they really must improve upon to be sterner defensively and grind out more clean sheets going forward.