Ole Gunnar Solskjaer accepted the blame for a Manchester United performance that was the worst you can get as they lost 6-1 at home to Tottenham.
The Red Devils were utterly humiliated at Old Trafford on Sunday as they conceded six in a Premier League game for the first time since 2011 s loss at home to Manchester City by the same scoreline.
Bruno Fernandes put United ahead with a second-minute penalty, but Spurs were 2-1 up inside seven minutes through Tanguy Ndombele and Son Heung-min.
Hopes of a fightback were scuppered when Anthony Martial was sent off for raising a hand at Erik Lamela, and Son, Serge Aurier and Harry Kane twice inflicted further damage on an abject United defence.
You don t win games of football making individual mistakes, making a performance like that, Solskjaer told Sky Sports.
3 Manchester United have conceded six goals in a single Premier League game for only the third time with each coming in October (1996 v Southampton, 2011 v Man City, today v Spurs). Scary.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
When we get the start we did, you think Yep, we ve got the game where we want it , and after you make a few bad decisions and you re suddenly 3-1 down. Of course, it s alarming, it s nowhere near good enough. I hold my hands up, it s my decision to pick the team I did. It s not good enough for Man United.
When you have a defeat like this, which has happened at the club before, you ve got to look at yourself in the mirror. They re going away on international duty, some of them, but the ones who are staying here, we ve got good time to work. But we don t see each other for 10 days and that s hard now. That wasn t anywhere near good enough as a squad or a team.
Questioned on whether United must now try to sign defensive reinforcements before Monday s transfer deadline, Solskjaer replied: We defend as a team, we defend from the front as a group and whoever we re linked with it doesn t mean it s true, does it? We re going to be linked with players all day long.
But we need as a team and a group to get the performances as we did after the restart [last season]. We were a very good defensive team, we didn t concede loads of goals, but with talented players, it s something I have to look at because we can t be as open as we were today.
You ll know by tomorrow night when the window s closed, but that s not about getting players in, this is about who s here and getting the best out of the ones here. Today was the worst you can get from these.
There s a lot of wrongs there today, maybe the preparation we ve given them it s all sorts. As a coaching staff, we ve got loads of time to do that now.
3 Manchester United are the 7th side in Premier League history to concede a penalty in 3+ successive home games and the first since Arsenal in December 2016. Clumsy.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Solskjaer did not blame the defeat on Martial s dismissal, but he was incensed by the actions of Lamela, who flung an arm at Martial first and then went to ground under minimal contact.
There s no excuse but he must be having an operation on his throat, the boy, said the United manager. It s a bad reaction from Anthony, no excuse, but the game s not lost then and there.
If that was one of my players, I d absolutely hang him out to dry. If Anto had gone down, it could have been going the other way. But he shouldn t react like that.
