Solskjaer still seeking improvement

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has analysed our 1-0 Europa League victory over Partizan Belgrade on Thursday night.

United emerged with a vital three points from an electric atmosphere in Serbia which leaves us top of Group L after three games.

Anthony Martial grabbed the all-important only goal of the evening, but the boss reserved some special praise for two other players after the game.

Speaking to MUTV and in his press conference, Ole expressed his delight at picking up an away win, spoke of the impressive support in Belgrade and is already targeting a win in the reverse fixture in a couple of weeks…

SOLID DEFENSIVE DISPLAY

In the second half, I thought we did really well defensively. I thought we defended really well in the box. They played well in the second half and made us defend too deep. I’m not happy with the defending at the front - I think that’s been one of our fortes and strengths this season, but I thought that was non-existent in the second half and that needs sorting out.

IMPRESSIVE YOUNGSTERS

I thought Jimmy [Garner] grew into the game, he did really well. He got tired, of course. Brandon [Williams] was Man of the Match and I thought he was absolutely excellent. Fantastic attitude. Great defending, great in the air. He gets us the penalty by driving with the ball forward. I didn’t think he put a foot wrong. He’s been fantastic in the games he’s played and the boy has no fear. He’s as brave as lion and he got us the win. We’ve found a left-back there. The boy’s going to be a top player.

ELECTRIC ATMOSPHERE

Yeah, the atmosphere was excellent. It was intimidating because we gave their fans loads of encouragement. Our players had to step up and sometimes stand on the ball, to try and calm the crowd down. Sometimes, we couldn’t. I thought their team was really good. In the second half, there was lots of courage from them and they sent men forward and created loads of opportunities. We defended well and the crowd was unbelievable. They should be very proud of their team and the team should be very proud of their crowd because it was an excellent atmosphere. The fans were great.

TARGETING A WIN IN TWO WEEKS

When we host them in two weeks’ time we’re going to go all out to get that win, of course, and then, the last two games, we’ll know we’re through. It’s a great position to be in. We haven’t conceded a goal so, defensively, we’ve done really well, but we need to score more goals.

ADDING MORE GOALS

In games like these, when we get the first goal, we need to learn how to get the second and third. I thought, today, we had loads of opportunities to make sure we were in a comfortable lead but we didn’t play that pass forward.

GETTING AN AWAY WIN

Of course, I’m happy and now we can just look forward to the next one and try to build some momentum. We need to win away from home in the league. But it's another a clean sheet, which is great, and that gives a platform to win the games from.