Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has backed Paul Pogba's new stripped-down approach to penalties after the Frenchman scored twice from the spot to get Manchester United out of jail to beat West Ham 2-1.
Pogba has been criticised this season for stuttering his run-up and had missed three penalties against Burnley, Everton and Southampton, but he made no mistake from 12 yards against Lukasz Fabianski on Saturday.
'It is up to him how he takes them and I am happy as the ball goes in, but I like that way of running up to the ball and smashing it in,' said a delighted Solskjaer.
'The second one was really good, it went right into the corner so the goalkeeper couldn't get it even though he dived the right way.
'Paul is practising penalties all the time, he is confident and mentally very strong.'
Solskjaer's side struggled without suspended full-backs Ashley Young and Luke Shaw while Marcus Rashford, Victor Lindelof and Scott McTominay were put on the bench with Tuesday night's Champions League second leg against Barcelona in mind.
The United boss urged Uefa to change their fixture scheduling so both legs of a quarter-final would either be on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. Under current rules, Spurs and Manchester City play their tie on a Tuesday and then the following Wednesday - an eight-day gap - while United and Barca only have six days between their two matches.
'We tried to google to find out why but if you could find out that'd be great,' said Solskjaer.
'If we were going to Barcelona for a Wednesday game, I definitely wouldn't have made as many changes for the West Ham game. I think Uefa should change that, it's a strange system the way they do it at the moment.'
The United boss put their sluggish performance down to losing the ball too often.
'When you have Rashford, McTominay and Shaw out, you lose power and pace. It was a different set up, we had creativity and we tried to make it a different kind of game but kept giving the ball away. It was end to end, like a basketball game.
'I don't think the intensity was bad but the control wasn't good enough.'
AlgerianGriezmann8
63
Confident and mentally strong! We salute you, Lieutenant Pogba for dispatching the enemy fleet of West Ham. Seriously, he’s a professional football player.
Just-Mide
61
Am sorry Ole but Paul is not mentally strong Sometimes plays like my younger brother who is 12 and lazy but really good on the ball All I want is for him to just own the Midfield, be consistent and dominant I think every United fan want a leader out of him which I must say he isn’t at the moment
Memadenor
53
Ole is getting crazy about Pogba! He needs to be tied up...
Naijatwist
52
The United boss put their sluggish performance down to losing the ball too often.
Dowlo143
48
I really like also his confidence ..that would make us go top 4 👌