Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is pleased with the progress of his team this season but rejects any suggestion that finishing second in the Premier League is an “achievement”.
United need three points from the final two rounds of fixtures to secure second place, an upgrade on last year’s position of third, and it would be the first time the club have has successive top four finishes since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
But Solskjaer does not believe it’s anything to shout about, which goes against the thoughts of his predecessor Jose Mourinho.
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The Portuguese boss claimed it was one of his greatest achievements in football when he led the club to second in the 2017-18 season.
Solskjaer said ahead of his side’s clash against Fulham on Tuesday: “The competition now is a lot harder than when I was a player. Three, four, maybe five teams that can challenge for the top two positions.
“For the last few years they have been taken by the same two teams and for us to go into them and divide them it’s good, it’s a good performance but we can’t say it’s an achievement, it’s not an achievement.
“We’ve taken steps as a team but we’re not where we want to be, we know we have some deficiencies as a group there’s parts of the game that we need to improve on but I’ve felt we’ve made strides in most places and I’ve been very pleased with the players and I’ve got to say I’ve been impressed by them but we want to take the next step as well.”
Solskjaer also said the recent displays in defeat to Leicester and Liverpool have been impacts by the fan protests.
“I just didn’t want to use it as an excuse because we lost two games but surely it’s a reason behind the performances,” he added when asked if the protests had affected his players.
“I’m not saying it didn’t affect them but I was impressed with how professional they were and how they went about it.
“There was none of them that complained and that’s one of the big things for me, we never complain we just look at what we can do and how could we maximise the situation.
“We tried to do that but we couldn’t get the results but the players have been good as gold. They’ve had a couple of days off and they’re refreshed and ready and now we prepare as normal for these last two games.”
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