Man Utd news: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists Old Trafford job is not too big for him

United suffering worst start to a season in 30 years

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has insisted that the Manchester United manager’s job is not too big for him despite overseeing the club’s worst start to a season in 30 years.

United have only won five of the 21 games since Solskjaer’s permanent appointment in March and have taken just nine points from their opening eight Premier League games.

The Norwegian will come under increased pressure if bitter rivals and leaders Liverpool come away with three points from their visit to Old Trafford this weekend.

But Solskjaer believes he has what it takes to turn United’s fortunes around, starting with Sunday’s meeting with Jurgen Klopp’s side.

“No, I’ve never felt it's too big for me,” he said. “I’m confident in what we're trying to do and I’m confident in my staff - the coaching and what’s happening here every single day, I've been so impressed.

“Michael [Carrick], Kieran [McKenn], Martin [Pert], Richard [Hartis], the coaching, the improvement is there to see for us but it’s about results: start winning games, start scoring goals, we need to create more chances because at the back we've looked solid.

“But we haven't been adventurous enough, taking enough risks. If you watch the best teams they take more risks with the ball, they make more runs in behind and that’s part of the process for the boys.

“When they’re losing confidence maybe they want to play it a bit more safe but it’s not safety that does it here - at this club you do take risks.”

Solskjaer attributes much of United’s struggles to injuries, with Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial missing a large part of the season already. David de Gea is likely to miss Sunday’s game after picking up a groin injury on international duty.

“Of course when you lose the majority of your front creativity that we started with you're going to struggle to create as many chances as you like,” Solskjaer said.

“At Newcastle we had 75 per cent possession but you can't carve that opening. The pressing up high has been very good, the attitude and desire in that respect, but not enough chances created, chances haven't been taken.

“Sometimes that's confidence, that's human nature. You see players missing chances they normally won't miss but it's up to us to keep working and get the ball between the posts. That goal never moves, that's the easiest bit. You know where it is.”