Solskjaer warns Anthony Martial and responds to accusation he is to blame for club dip in form: Press Conference

Manchester United have lost five of their last seven games and are facing a battle to secure a top-four finish and with it Champions League football next season after elimination from this campaign losing in the quarter-finals to Barcelona. They will aim to extend their impressive record against Everton when they travel to Merseyside on Sunday, April 21. Ahead of the game, United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has faced the press. United lost to Barcelona and Solskjaer has revealed is it tough moving on and re-focusing: “You have to get on with it quickly and just accept we’re out of Champions League, no shame in going out to Barcelona and we know we’re behind over the two leg then again the disappointment on the night is we had a go, had a great start and couldn’t take advantage of the first 15 mins and we seemed to surprised them with energy and enthusiasm. Then two goals and game over. Attitude and effort was good you have to stick together, you now you’re out and the lads worked together and stuck together and make sure we van go into these three games in a decent state.” Solkskjar’s side will be back into Premier League action against Everton. “Great to have a game to look forward to, we spoke about it, forget about this, we’re out,” Solskjaer has said. “We wanna be here again and to be back at these stadiums we need to be in top four, fantastic week, players in a good state mentally and they’re strong mentally and at Goodison it’s gonna be a hard game.” The top-four race continues, as Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal are fighting for Champions League places alongside Manchester United. “Will give them a boost playing those games, that’s what you want, we’d have loved to have a semi-final to play in but not the case. These three games are our short term focus and shouldn’t think about anything but having a great week,” said Solskjaer. On Summer transfer window plans, Solskjaer added: “Yeah because I’ve been speaking to the club, we know that we have to be realistic and have a job to be done there’s no quick fix, it’s not like buy seven players and we’re in the right shape, we have to take step by step and there’ll be signings made but also has to be thoughts about players, sit down, have a pre-season, I can’t wait for it to come, there’ll be some additions, the players have got to come back and know what is expected of them take ownership of that while on holiday and it will be great to see who’s coming back and as I said first of all this focus has to be on Everton.” Solskjaer has told his under-performing players some of them need a “reality check”. “Most of them have really impressed in their attitude and some need to get a reality check of where they're at,” said Solskjaer. “But most of these know they can improve if they keep working as they do. I've spoken to individuals and they know. Anthony is one I've spoken to, about what we expect from them. Anthony's got a massive talent, he's got a new contract and knows we believe in him, so he just has to keep working. I think anyone that plays for Manchester United has to deliver to stay in the squad and stay in the team Anthony is no different to Rashy [Marcus Rashford] or Rom [Lukaku] or Alexis or the many forwards we have to choose form. That's the great thing about - now it's down to the players and the ownership they take. Every day in training, every game when you're playing, there's no hiding place and everyone can see where your levels at. We're working with fantastic staff to create this culture, for players to take ownership of what's happening here as well. But the performances on the pitch will determine where they're at, if it's short term or long term every single day, and that's what we spoke about at Barca. When you're at big stadiums, you've got to step up and make good decisions.” The Norwegian has denied his appointment as permanent boss has been a reason in their recent drop in form. “I don't think so, no,” said Solskajer. “That's football, its about margins. We've lost two league games, Wolves and Arsenal . But the players know what's going to happen, they know what I expect, what we as a club expect and what we want to do. When we came in on December 19 and where we're at now, I think anyone would have taken that. Now we've got five games to see if we can finish it off.”

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