Ole Solskjaer saw a familiar scene once again as he watched his Manchester United side lose another semi-final game.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has dismissed notions that United’s semi-final fumbles are a psychological issue.
United’s 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Man City was the fourth time under the Norwegian that the Reds have slipped up in a semi-final.
It was also the second time in as many years they have lost to City in the last four of the League Cup. United were also beaten by Sevilla and Chelsea in the semi-finals of the Europa League and FA Cup respectively last season.
A few have claimed United perhaps have a mental block that has seen them fumble at that stage on domestic and continental front.
Solskjaer has dismissed those claims and insists his side were beaten by ‘better’ teams on all four occasions.
“No, it is not psychological,” he said to the club’s website after the game.
“Sometimes, you meet good teams in semis and we just didn’t have enough. At the moment, they are probably the best team in England and we just didn’t have enough.”
“When you lose a semi-final, when you lose against an opponent, you think they deserve it. But we are getting closer. This is a much better version of Man United compared to a year ago in those semis. That’s positive but it is not enough.”
It was no shame to lose to Manchester City but Solskjaer says he was disappointed with the manner in which his side lost. Goals via two set-pieces seemed like a gift to their rivals.
“City can score many great goals, and you can accept that, but when you concede from two set-plays, simple ones that we should have cleared, we are very disappointed.”
“It is just not good enough in those moments. We would have liked to have defended that first free-kick better. That is a poor goal to give away, I have to say. It is not one to analyse on telly here.”
Solskjaer continued: “It was very, very disappointing. We didn’t [do enough]. Clearly, we didn’t. We didn’t create enough big chances ourselves, they didn’t create too many big ones either, but we just didn’t have the extra finesse that we have had in the games lately, in the league, in those tight games that we won.”
“We weren’t good enough today and when you concede two set-plays, it is very disappointing.”
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