Solskjaer praises energy levels of United’s front four

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s decision not to make any substitutes against West Ham was on the face of it, an odd one.

Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes have both played 60 or more games for club and country inside the calendar last year, and there is concern about exhaustion and injuries with both. Rashford was just coming back from an ankle problem which caused him to miss the Milan game.

Solskjaer’s decision not to make a change was perhaps impacted by his mismanagement of the game against AC Milan, when he made too many as he looked to see out a 1-0 lead, and the game ended 1-1.

Faced with a similar scenario against West Ham, Solskjaer decided to stick rather than twist, and kept his attackers on until full-time.

Speaking to the club website after the game, Solskjaer explained that the front four of Rashford, Fernandes, Dan James and Mason Greenwood were giving him exactly what he wanted, and he did not want to disrupt this by making changes.

Solskjaer explained: “It hurt when we conceded that goal [to Milan] but we are defending better. We are defending from the front.

“Our forwards sometimes you think, ‘come on’, when we are attacking, but they have done so much running and pressing. That is one of the pleasing things today, the energy was there Mason, Bruno, Dan, Marcus. I didn’t feel we needed to make a change because they did such a good job up there.”

United only had teenagers Amad Diallo and Shola Shoretire on the bench as attacking options. Perhaps Solskjaer should have shown more trust in the pair, especially with Amad scoring in midweek.

In any case, Solskjaer’s decision got the result he wanted, a win for United and a clean sheet.

Now reinforcements are due back for the AC Milan fixture, with Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani among the attacking options.

James and Greenwood could both drop out of the front three to compensate, or Marcus Rashford could if he needs a rest – but Solskjaer is so reliant on him he will probably start.

It is just nice to have options again. United have been stretched in midfield for weeks too, and both Donny van de Beek and Paul Pogba could also be available against Milan.

United have a crucial FA Cup quarter-final days afterwards at Leicester too. It was important to build momentum for these games with a win last night, no matter how we did it.

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