Ole Gunnar Solskjaer described the scheduling of Manchester United’s Premier League match against Everton on Saturday as an “absolute joke”.
United eased the pressure on its under-fire manager with a 3-1 win in the early kick-off at Goodison Park but the Norwegian vented his fury at league chiefs after picking up fresh injuries.
Main focus
The main focus on Saturday was on whether United could bounce back after successive defeats, which raised fresh doubts over Solskjaer’s position at the club.
United only returned from its embarrassing Champions League loss against Istanbul Basaksehir in the early hours of Thursday yet had to kick off at Goodison Park at 12:30 p.m. local time on Saturday.
Bruno Fernandes scored twice and new signing Edinson Cavani opened his account as United came from behind to beat the early-season pacesetters.
But Solskjaer blamed the quick turnaround for injuries to Luke Shaw (hamstring), Victor Lindelof (back) and Marcus Rashford (shoulder).
“How can you expect players to perform to the best of their ability when you send them out at 12:30? Absolute joke,” he said.
“Our players were set up to fail today with the schedule,” he added.
“I pushed my club to really fight the kick-off time on this one to give us at least half a chance but it was quashed.”
