Manchester United winger Daniel James played as a centre forward against AZ Alkmaar to try and 'stretch' their opponents.
James, a left winger and one of the better performers for United this term, started through the middle at the Cars Jeans Stadion in a dismal 0-0 draw as United failed to register a single attempt on target.
Mason Greenwood lined up on the right and eventually swapped with James after the experiment. Solskjaer described Greenwood as the 'more natural' centre forward in his explanation behind James's role change.
"Stretch opponents," Solskjaer explained. "He stretches them. We never got to grips with the astro turf until second-half. First-half, we took some time before we got control of the ball and the game.
"Dan can play down the middle, he has done before, that was a tactical tweak we tried. Of course, Mason's more natural as a centre forward so we swapped them around."
David de Gea made a few stops to record only United's third clean sheet of the season and Solskjaer was pleased with the defensive spine of Victor Lindelof and Marcos Rojo at Alkmaar.
United told Rojo he was free to leave amid interest from Everton on transfer deadline day but the Argentinian has started three times this month and returned to the national squad last month.
"Rojo, Lindelof and David were the spine of the team," Solskjaer said. "Some of the thinking with Nemanja [Matic], Fred and Juan was having three experienced midfielders there but I felt with Marcos, Victor and David we were solid.
"And great to see with Marcos fitter and fitter, because he's a top player."
