MANCHESTER, England — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says his Manchester United team have ticked another box after battling back from 2-0 down to earn a point against Burnley in a 2-2 draw on Tuesday.
A late Paul Pogba penalty and a stoppage-time equaliser from Victor Lindelof ensured Solskjaer’s unbeaten start as United boss continued and the Norwegian said afterwards his players had proved a point with the fightback.
“Now you’ve got your answer can they come back if they go one down or two down,” said Solskjaer, who watched his team fall behind in a game for the first time since taking over from Jose Mourinho.
“On the way up here I was stopped so many times by the staff, so many people saying great spirit, fighting spirit and the way they came back was fantastic.
“Of course, happy with a point but we could have got three even at the end but we just ran out of time. We started too late. That’s a learning curve.”
Solskjaer handed Andreas Pereira his first Premier League start since August and it was the Brazilian who was robbed of the ball in midfield in the buildup to Burnley’s first goal.
The caretaker manager also opted to pick Romelu Lukaku as the striker with in-form Marcus Rashford, who had scored in four straight league games, moved out wide but the 45-year-old was adamant he had picked the right team.
“It was the right decision to make,” said Solskjaer.
“We had a couple of niggles and unfortunately he [Pereira] was involved in the first goal but that’s the whole team.
“We played our way into trouble there. Instead of starting off with the forward pass we ended up back to the keeper and it’s just another thing we have to learn from.
“Rom’s done really well against Burnley before. He’s a handful and with Anthony [Martial] injured we thought that was the best option with Rashy out there.”
Solskjaer could soon be losing a member of his squad with Marouane Fellaini edging closer to a move to the Chinese Super League.
Sources have told ESPN FC that the 31-year-old is on the verge of signing for Shandong Luneng but Solskjaer insists he is still in the dark about the midfielder’s future.
“I’ve been busy all day so I don’t know the latest update on that one so just wait and see,” he said.