Ole Gunnar Solskjaer explained that the “heat of the moment” was behind his foul-mouthed Jesse Lingard blast during the Manchester derby.
The Manchester United boss vented his fury at one point during the second half of Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg clash with Manchester City.
And it was Lingard who drew the Norwegian’s ire, after the England midfielder gave the ball away in a moment of slackness.
That giveaway, coming in the 58th minute, led to a City break which saw Raheem Sterling go clean through on David de Gea’s goal - only for Sterling to fire over the crossbar.
Immediately Solskjaer yelled in Lingard’s direction only to not be heard by the midfielder.
However, he soon got the player’s attention, and was caught on camera yelling: "One more time and you're f***ing off!”
Lingard would be substituted in the 65th minute, with Solskjaer offering a big hug to the homegrown star - who has endured a difficult campaign - as he was removed from the fray.
After the game, Solskjaer made light of the incident.
“[It was] Just heat of the moment, [it happens] once in a while,” stated Solskjaer. "When you lose the ball, make sure we try to play more. And in the next moment him and Victor [Lindelof] grew in confidence and started playing.
"Once in a while you're going to make mistakes but if you're going to come here and just defend you've got no chance.
"Yes, we created one or two dangerous moments with the way we tried to play our way out, but that's the way we want the box to express themselves.
"We have to do that to release the pressure."
United face Wolves on Saturday in their next Premier League outing on Saturday, looking to close the gap on the top four.
Solskjaer's men currently sit fifth, level on points with their visitors, who are seventh.
