Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has targeted qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League as a pick-me-up after the disappointment of defeat against Bournemouth.
The mood at Old Trafford had been lifted by three successive victories but the 1-0 loss on the south coast was another unsatisfactory Premier League outing.
United have seven points from three games in Europe this season and victory over Partizan Belgrade at Old Trafford on Thursday would secure their progress.
"The boys have been working as hard as possible on the training pitch to get results," @Youngy18 says.— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 6, 2019
Solskjaer said: “You’re disappointed when you lose a game and of course we were on half a run. But it won’t happen in one instance that you turn everything round.
“It was a quick turnaround, we couldn’t get the goal that we felt we deserved early on. But we go again. We’ve got a great chance now to qualify for the next round, which then means the last two games you can try out a few things.”
United will be without defender Victor Lindelof, who played at Bournemouth having been a doubt for the game but is now sidelined once more.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has a number of players out injured ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash (Tim Goode/PA)
Solskjaer said: “He won’t be fit for tomorrow. He got a knock against Chelsea and he didn’t come through the game against Bournemouth without a reaction.”
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
Left-back Luke Shaw, who has been out with a hamstring injury since August, was back on the grass but training away from the squad, while Eric Bailly, Diogo Dalot, Angel Gomes, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba and Axel Tuanzebe all remain absent.
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
FourFourTwo was launched in 1994 on the back of a World Cup that England hadn’t even qualified for. It was an act of madness… but it somehow worked out. Our mission is to offer our intelligent, international audience access to the game’s biggest names, insightful analysis... and a bit of a giggle. We unashamedly love this game and we hope that our coverage reflects that.
