Ole Gunnar Solskjaer refused to criticise Victor Lindelof after Manchester United’s 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace despite the defender being at fault for all three goals they conceded.
The Red Devils made a disappointing start to the season and were behind after just seven minutes at Old Trafford on Saturday, with Jeffrey Schlupp racing in behind the ragged backline and squaring for Andros Townsend.
Lindelof was rather harshly penalised for a handball for the second goal, resulting in a controversial penalty, before being bullied by Wilfried Zaha for the third goal.
United legend Gary Neville described Lindelof as ‘weak’ during commentary, while Ryan Giggs criticised both the Sweden international and centre-back partner Harry Maguire.
But Solskjaer refused to point fingers after the defeat to Palace and feels his whole squad are lacking sharpness after a quick turnaround following the culmination of their Europa League campaign last season.
Asked about Lindelof’s display, Solskjaer said: ‘Well we all need games, we all need sharpness, we all need time to get back to our best.
‘But I wouldn’t point any fingers at any individuals, no I wouldn’t.’
A number of first-team regulars only made the bench for United against Palace, while Nemanja Matic was not involved at all, and Solskjaer feels his squad aren’t quite up to speed yet.
He added: ‘You can see we are short and they deserved the points.
‘Today was a performance you don’t see very often from this group. We should look at ourselves in the mirror. Everyone knows we can perform better than this.’
