Ole Gunnar Solskjaer apologised for smiling during a post-match interview after overseeing Manchester United’s 4-1 defeat to Watford.

United suffered a seventh defeat in their last 13 games and Solskjaer was booed when he went up to the away end at Vicarage Road to say sorry for another wretched performance.

After the match he was quizzed on his future by Sky Sports and was also asked why his players kept starting games so poorly. He smiled when asked that question and quickly corrected himself to offer an apology for it.

“Sorry for smiling there, but that’s human beings,” he said. “You’re surprised [by the start], all these good lads, top players, top professionals, when it’s not going for you it’s going against you and it’s hard to play with that mental break.”

United were 2-0 down at half-time and it could have been worse, with Watford taking 11 shots in the first 45 minutes as David de Gea’s goal came under constant fire.

Solskjaer was reluctant to expand on the reasons for such a poor performance after the game but he did admit the first half had been well below par.

“There’s no point saying too much about it apart from we didn’t handle the first half at all, we got outfought in the first half and we allowed them to get into our box too easily. That’s costly when you’ve got a direct and physical team like Watford,” he said.

“First half was very, very poor. We need to get the players in a better frame of mind to start the game.”

Solskjaer is under mounting pressure at United after this latest horror show.

“It’s a definite big, big challenge for everyone at the club,” he said. The results are not good enough, we know that. Of course something is wrong.

“I feel for the fans. I feel the same as the fans. “We’re embarrassed losing the way we do. We are in a very bad run and bad situation. But that is part of football.

“I know they will support the team and the players on the pitch every single day. Sometimes you have to say sorry and that was a sorry for the performance.”

(Sunday Independent)

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