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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has reiterated his responsibility for Manchester United’s recent slump in form and also hit out at false reports about Paul Pogba.

Solskjaer has been under pressure all week following United’s 5-0 loss to Liverpool on Sunday. With no midweek action, it has been a long wait for them to put things right. Truth be told, it will take more than one upcoming game to repair the damage.

Solskjaer’s position is safe for now ahead of the game against Tottenham on Saturday evening. But reports have speculated that it is the first of three games he has left to save his job.

Therefore, the pressure is on and it has overshadowed their preparation throughout the week.

The manager admits it has been a tricky few days, but hopes his players realise dealing with such setbacks is part of the business.

“It’s been a difficult week, of course,” he said at a press conference.

“We’ve had to deal with the result and performance against Liverpool which we know wasn’t good enough and that’s something that footballers have to deal with. That’s why we’re in this game.

“You have to look forward to the next game, make sure you’re ready. And when you get to that next game sort it out and challenge the problems. We’ve had a good week on the training field.”

Solskjaer proceeded to confirm he has been covering all bases in training to ensure his players get back in the correct mindset.

Ultimately, though, he took the blame for what happened last weekend.

“We definitely need a reaction and it’s my job as well to put the players in the right frame of mind,” he said. “I’m responsible for the reaction, the result, the performance.

“We’ve worked on the pitch, worked on everything that needs to be sorted for a footballer. It’s not just frame of mind, it’s the approach strategy, gameplan, tactics, technically, we’ve had a good week and I feel the boys are ready to give their best as they always do.

“The performance, nothing went to plan and that was nowhere near our best.”

Solskjaer slams Pogba reports

Another aspect that has interrupted United through the week was reports of Paul Pogba snubbing Solskjaer after the Liverpool game and shelving contract talks.

Pogba went on to deny the reports from The Sun and Solskjaer has now also hit back at them.

“I don’t read social media but when Paul came up to me, angry. We expect to be criticised, hands up, the performance wasn’t good enough,” he said. “We don’t expect, we can’t accept when lies are made up.

“Paul told me what he put up on his social media. We’re better than that as a group – the culture, environment is better, we can’t stand for blatant lies. They’ve got to stand up and say so.

“All the opinions and reports, fine, but don’t make up lies about players or me.”

Pogba was sent off in the Liverpool match after coming on as a substitute. As such, he is the only absentee for their return to action against Tottenham.

“Paul is suspended but apart from that it’s a fully fit squad which is a very strange position to be in, to have 25 outfield players and five keepers this week. All fit,” Solskjaer confirmed.

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