Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suggested he could drop Paul Pogba into a deeper midfield role to help Manchester United control matches better, after watching his side scrape a 2-1 win over Watford on Saturday.
Pogba has thrived more than most at Old Trafford since Solskjaer took over from Jose Mourinho in December, but the France star was largely anonymous in a game in that Watford largely dominated but were kept at bay by the impressive Chris Smalling and Phil Jones.
“Paul is important for us. We couldn’t keep the ball today – 50-50 per cent possession at home, you’re a bit disappointed with that. But Paul’s been away, played two games for France, he’s playing a bit deeper for them so that’s maybe something we have to think about, to get him more in the game.
“Paul can do both, he can attack and defend. Today, we had two strikers who did it for us. I thought Rashy was fantastic -he gave us the energy the others lacked.”
Solskjaer bristled at the suggestion United should be concerned by their inability to dominate one of the Premier League’s less-fancied sides.
“Watford is a good team,” he said. “They’re playing the semi-final of the FA Cup, they’ve got some very good players, play well on the counter-attack as well. I don’t think you’re giving them respect because they’re a good side. Along with Wolves, they’re the best two teams apart from the top six.
“Of course, you’d like to dominate, but we weren’t able to. We’ve set ourselves targets over the next eight games, now seven games. We came away with a win – that’s great. Everyone knows we can play better.”
United marked their first game since Solskjaer was named their new permanent manager with a narrow victory over the Hornets at Old Trafford, thanks to goals from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.
