‘My darkest day’ – Solskjaer claims Man Utd ARE close to success and trophies but upset after 5-0 Liverpool hammering
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER insists he is 'close' to bringing success back to Manchester United despite the 'darkest day' in his managerial career at the hands of Liverpool.
The Red Devils were humiliated by Jurgen Klopp's men on Sunday as they suffered a thoroughly embarrassing 5-0 defeat at Old Trafford.
And a dejected Solskjaer did not shy away from his assessment of the game in his post-match interview.
He told : "It's not easy to say something, apart from it's the darkest day I've had leading these players.
"We weren't good enough individually or as a team. You can't give a team like Liverpool those chances and unfortunately, we did.
"The whole performance wasn't good enough, that's for sure. We have created openings, they have had chances, they have been clinical and we did not take our chances early on. Then the third goal is the one that decided the game.
"It's mine [responsibly for the loss] - that's it. The coaching staff are brilliant and I choose the way we approach the game and today, we weren't clinical enough going forward. There were spaces for both teams and when you give good players spaces, they score.
"You can look back at last season when we lost 6-1 to Spurs - this is miles worse. The opposition as well, that makes it miles worse for me as a Manchester lad and we have to get over this as quick as we can and move on."
Solskjaer has come under extreme pressure in recent weeks but no more so than in the aftermath of Man Utd's devastating defeat to Liverpool.
But the Norwegian remains confident he has built something at Old Trafford which is close to clicking into gear.
"We've come too far as a group and we're too close to give up now," he added.
"I've heard nothing else [about a potential departure], and I'm still thinking about tomorrow's work, of course.
"We're all low. I can't say now that I've felt any worse than this. This is the lowest I've been. But as I've said, I accept the responsibility, and that is mine today. It's mine going forward.
"I do believe in myself, I do believe that I am getting close to what I want with the club, I think what we've done, what I've seen, the development, of course, the results lately haven't been good enough.
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"But I've got to keep strong and I do believe in what we've been doing, the coaching staff and the players."
Man Utd have picked up just one point from their last four Premier League games, a slump which includes defeats to Aston Villa, Leicester and Liverpool.
And it does not get much easier for Solskjaer's team as they continue with a perilous run of fixtures that includes Tottenham, Atalanta, Manchester City, Villarreal, Chelsea and Arsenal in their next seven matches.