Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted that his players played the game ‘like it was a testimonial’ in their defeat to Watford at the weekend.
The Red Devils fell to another loss at Vicarage Road on Sunday afternoon, putting on a severely lacklustre showing, with goals from Ismaila Sarr and Troy Deeney giving the Hornets their first win on home soil this season.
Solskjaer said following the loss that his side did not compete as he would have expected them to.
Talking to Sky Sports, he said: “The first half it could easily have been my testimonial.
“And it might have been a better atmosphere at my testimonial, to be fair. It was very subdued, slow, no tempo, urgency.
“Any bit of encouragement their crowd got was when we gave them set-plays. And we gave them two goals in the second half.
“Today is not about the amount of possession – it’s about quality, how we do things and the two goals we conceded.”
The shock defeat was the latest in a long line that has seen United fall behind in the chase for the UEFA Champions League places. Solskjaer’s troops sit eighth in the table ahead of Christmas, seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
They are at 15/2 with Betfair to earn a top-four place come the end of the campaign.
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