Manchester United were upset by Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Saturday, leaving Ole Gunnar Solskjaer frustrated to have lost on what he believes was an offside goal and a missed penalty kick by the typically reliable Bruno Fernandes.
[ MORE: Arsenal vs Norwich recap & highlights ]
Below is live reaction from Old Trafford following Manchester United vs Aston Villa, as the Red Devils suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season…
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on Aston Villa’s goal (above video)…
“You can take it when it’s a good goal conceded against you, but that’s offside. He’s touched David [de Gea] as he heads the ball. How that’s a goal and Leicester have not got their goals, I just can’t see the consistency and that’s clearly offside.”
🗣 "It's an offside, their goal."
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was not happy with Aston Villa's goal as he felt it was offside pic.twitter.com/0XUO4aFyNC
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 25, 2021
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on the Aston Villa players surrounding Fernandes before the penalty…
“I wasn’t going to mention it but it’s not right that they do that. I guess that should be a yellow card for someone but they have achieved what they wanted.
…
“It doesn’t get in Bruno’s head. He’s strong mentally and he’ll step forward again. The decision (on who takes penalties) is made before the game.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on the injury status of Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire…
“At the moment they don’t look OK for Wednesday (vs Villarreal, in UEFA Champions League), but let’s see.”
Dean Smith, on Aston Villa’s first win at Old Trafford since 2009…
“I think Gabby [Agbonlahor] scored the winner that day. It’s been a long time coming. Our performance levels have been good the last couple of times we’ve been here.
“What that does is it gives an awful lot of belief to the players now. Went toe-to-toe with Chelsea, and we came here and went toe-to-toe. They probably had a lot more chances than us, but they were smaller chances and we had some really big chances and deserved the win.
“We caused them problems from set-pieces and we get that goal and want to see the game out then, but it’s inevitable when we play Man United that we give a penalty away. Extremely harsh, I’m not sure where he’s meant to put his arm and probably justice was done (the miss). They’ll enjoy that one and certainly our fans will, because it’s a long time coming.”
Dean Smith, on this being a statement win…
“I’ve not been big on making excuses, that’s not my thing. But we have had reasons and not being able to field our best players for the first start of the games. Now we have a healthier squad that are competing with each other and it showed today.”
Aston Villa goal-scorer Kourtney Hause, on Manchester United’s penalty…
“When they gave the penalty, I was devastated and fuming with myself. Looking back I didn’t make myself any bigger. I’ve tried to bring my arms in, so when Bruno blazed it over the bar, I was relieved. I think it was justice in the end, because I don’t think it was a penalty.
“The rules are the rules. All we can do as players is play the game and play it well and whatever decision the referees and VAR want to give we have to get on with it.”
“We had the better chances. We haven’t really had to defend too tough as a team, but we’ve come away with the three points and that’s all that matters. We’re happy.””
