We always wondered how the Manchester United of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would react to their first Premier League loss, and the answer, which came yesterday, was not encouraging at all. United were dumped out of the FA Cup in the quarterfinals yesterday with a 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Molineux.
After the match, Solskjaer gave a scathing assessment of his own team’s dreadful performance. He said it was the worst outing that he’s seen from them, and that it was a couple steps backward from all the progress the Red Devils have made.
“It was the poorest performance we’ve had,” Solskjaer said in postgame.
“We never had the urgency and the quality on the ball. The tempo on the ball wasn’t high enough. Not enough quality. “It’s a big step backwards, I’ve got to say.”
It’s the poorest performance since I’ve come here. It’s very disappointing that we’re not in the semis. We got what we deserved.”
The FA Cup was the best chance for a trophy, by far, for Solskjaer’s United this season. Perhaps the worst part of this defeat is that comes at a time in which the side will now have plenty of time to ruminate on it.
United are not in action again until March 30, when they host eight place Watford in Premier League action. They are still alive in the UCL, but face very long odds of advancing beyond the quarterfinals of that competition. The best they can hope for this year is a top four finish.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.