Solskjaer Reveals Why He Didn’t Make Substitution Until 82nd Minute Against Wolves

Manchester United failed to continue their thumping opening weekend success against Chelsea away to Wolverhampton as well this Monday.

The Red Devils emerged from the fixture with a 1-1 draw and only a single point to their name.

Anthony Martial opened the scoring for United but a rejuvenated home side answered in the second-half with a spectacular free-kick worldie from Ruben Neves to equalize the game.

Paul Pogba’s penalty later on in the half could have made a big difference in the end, but goalkeeper Rui Patricio saved it, keeping his team in the game.

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One of the decisions of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that fans were very critical of was the gaffer’s choice to wait until the final minutes to make substitutions to his starting lineup who were clearly struggling by then.

The Norwegian’s first intervention came in the 81^st minute when he brought on Juan Mata and by the time the double substitution of Andreas Pereira and Mason Greenwood was made in the 88^th minute, it was too little too late.

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However, Solskjaer defended his decision by stating the following: “I felt we struggled the first 15 minutes of the second-half. We played into their hands with the quality of our game and they deservedly got the goal, Traore was part of it.”

The United boss is referring to the substitution made by the Wolves at half-time itself which made all the difference in the end as Traore won the decisive freekick that Neves buried.

Solskjaer adds: “And it took us five minutes and then we got into the game, I felt. I didn’t think [a substitution] was necessary and towards the end we could have won it with the penalty, of course, but that’s the decision you make there and then.

“We dominated possession, we get the first goal and second-half we know they’ll come out like a house on fire. They probably got the goal they deserve. I thought we took control again and could have won it.”