Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes Manchester United were “set up to fail” despite picking up a much-needed Premier League victory over Everton at Goodison Park.
United lost 2-1 to Istanbul Basaksehir in Turkey on Wednesday night in the Champions League, and were back in action on Saturday lunchtime in a must-win game on Merseyside.
The Red Devils recovered from Bernard’s early opener as Bruno Fernandes scored a first-half brace before assisting Edinson Cavani late on to seal a key 3-1 win for under-fire Solskjaer.
However, United lost Luke Shaw to injury during the second-half, with centre-back Axel Tuanzebe having to operate at left-back given Alex Telles has only just recently returned to training after contracting coronavirus.
Solskjaer revealed that Shaw could be out for a “long" time with a hamstring injury, and has called on footballing authorities to balance out fixtures to protect players - especially with an international break approaching.
“We were set up to fail,” Solskjaer said following the match.
"Luke Shaw was injured today because we've been to Turkey on Wednesday night, got back in Thursday morning and are playing Saturday lunchtime. It's an absolute shambles.
"I want to praise the boys for the character they've shown. They deserve better than being thrown out here to fail today. The authorities set us up to fail.
"How can I set us up today for a 12:30 kick-off? City and Liverpool played on Tuesday and play again on Sunday. Who's responsible? We've had enough of that. I've had enough.
"Set us up on a Sunday. It's an international break after. No argument."
"They have to understand in these times, a pandemic, how mentally and physically draining it is (for the players). They deserve all the praise. They were fantastic."
On the injury situation, the Norwegian said: "Mason Greenwood was not feeling well last night and Luke, hamstring - it might be a long one. Marcus Rashford I think is (also) struggling. That's the demands on the players."
