Ole Gunnar Solskjaer laments 'slow' performance against AC Milan

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed his disappointed following his side’s lacklustre performance against AC Milan in the Europa League on Thursday night, admitting the team played ‘too slow’.

The game came only a few days after United emphatically ended Manchester City’s winning run with a 2-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium last weekend. However, they were on the back foot from the start, with Milan dictating the game at Old Trafford, especially in the first half.

The Rossoneri has the ball in the net twice in the opening 45 minutes, with one ruled out for offside and the other harshly disallowed when the officials decided the ball had touched the arm of Franck Kessie seconds before he unleashed an unstoppable volley in to the net.

United went ahead when half-time substitute Amad Diallo scored his first goal for the club with an intelligent header over the onrushing Gianluigi Donnarumma, but Harry Maguire impossibly fluffed a golden chance to double the lead and Milan got back on level terms with a late Simon Kjaer header.

See here for 90min's player ratings on the night.

“In possession, we were too slow,” Solskjaer afterwards, via ManUtd.com.

“Even though we had the same amount of possession as them, we never used the ball well enough and never played it quick enough. We started really slow and are disappointed in that.”

“We were a long way off it,” Solskjaer also told BT Sport of the performance.

The United boss admitted that Dean Henderson could probably have done more to stop the equaliser – the ball went in directly over the goalkeeper’s head. But there was disappointment in the level of defending at the set piece that allowed Kjaer to make contact first.

“Well, it’s a header from six yards. [Henderson] can save it from there; I’ve seen him save from there,” Solskjaer explained.

“But it’s the structure we lose, we dropped a yard or two too deep and we get blocked. Kjaer makes a good run, he's strong and his marker is blocked off and he gets the header on it. We should have attacked the ball with the men we had there.”

The bright takeaway from an otherwise frustrating night was the impact of Amad, a player United will be increasingly keen to see more of from now on now they have seen first-hand his talent.

“He's creative and he plays with freedom,” Solskjaer said of the youngster. “Great pass from Bruno [Fernandes] by the way, that’s what makes the goal. Amad, he has been on the pitch before, but a good goal. He has loads to learn and he’ll be better having had that [time].”

The second leg of the tie will be played next Thursday (18 March) at San Siro for a place in the quarter-finals. Milan hold a slight aggregate advantage because of their away goal.

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