Ole Gunnar Solskjær has refused the notion that he should have dropped David De Gea as the out of form goalkeeper cost United all three points in their crucial game against Chelsea.
Asked if he should have dropped the Spaniard for the encounter, the United manager said “No”
“David has been a fantastic keeper at this club, his reaction after Manchester City was good and I was confident in him. He knows he could do better with their goal but it’s one of those things again.”
He added: “David has been unbelievable. We do support each other. There is no chance anyone can blame him for losing points. He knows he could have had that shot but that is football. David is one who likes to play games and I will have chats with him and he will respond in the right way.”
He also revealed he plans on using the United number one when the team travel to Huddersfield on Sunday.
“You think so? There’s many different ways of getting back into your best performances and of course I’ll sit down and speak to David as I’ve done when he’s played well – he’s not the reason why we are sixth.”
The draw leaves United on 65 points, three points behind Chelsea and one behind Arsenal in the race for a Champions League place next season.
They took the lead in the 11th minute through former Chelsea player, Juan Mata and seemed to be coasting until Rüdiger’s 30-yard shot was fumbled by De Gea who could do nothing as Alonso rebounded the ball into the net to equalise..
But Solskjaer is still backing him.
“He’s got two great keepers underneath him in Sergio and Lee,” said the Norwegian. “Sergio’s played well every time he’s played. Lee’s fantastic in training, they keep pushing each other. You cannot say there’s any complacency, David is not the type to be complacent, he’s a competitor, he wants to be the best and, for whatever reason, whenever I didn’t score [as a former striker] a goal, my confidence dropped if I missed chances.
“David knows he could have done better with the goal, there’s no reason hiding that. But there’s no chance any of us will point fingers because he’s saved us so many times.”
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