Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ‘declines to comment’ on Manchester United exit pressure

AP
Tom Doyle4 November 2020

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists he will remain strong amid rising speculation over his future as Manchester United manager.

Fresh from losing at home to Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday, United followed up that disappointing result with another in the Champions League.

The Red Devils have already beaten PSG and RB Leipzig in their so-called 'group of death', but fell to a surprise 2-1 defeat to Istanbul Basaksehir in Turkey on Wednesday.

With United languishing in 15th in the Premier League table and a tough trip to Everton coming up this weekend, there are suggestions that another big defeat could see Solskjaer removed from his post.

With an international break next week and Mauricio Pochettino a free agent, the former Tottenham boss has been a regular Twitter trend following United's defeats - but Solskjaer was in no mood to entertain speculation about his future in Turkey.

When asked if he feared for his job, Solskjaer laughed and replied: "You know, I decline to comment on such a thing.

"Of course it's early on and, you know, opinions are out there all the time. You've got to stay strong.

"I'm employed by the club to do a job and I do that to the best of my ability with our staff."

United’s defence was abject in Turkey, and Solskjaer admitted: "The last two results have been a punch in our stomach.

"The only way I know of - well, I hope the players as well - to respond is to get your act together for the Everton game.

"Because we know that's going to be a tough and difficult game, so I'm glad we've got a game already on Saturday.

"Disappointed with the result. Of course we picked a team to win the game and we hoped that we had enough to create chances. We just didn't.

"Emotion doesn't really matter, the emotions, the feelings. I think you can expect or think yourself how we feel after we lose. That's not something we go out to do."