Martial injury adds to Solskjaer's frustration following sloppy showing from Utd

The Red Devils boss was able to celebrate his permanent contract with a win over Watford, but picked up more knocks in a below-par performance

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer concedes that Manchester United put in a sloppy performance in a 2-1 win over Watford, with Anthony Martial picking up an injury to add to his manager’s frustration.

The Red Devils boss has had plenty to cheer since returning to Old Trafford, with the immediate impact he has made in the dugout leading to him landing a three-year contract.

In a first outing since signing that deal, the Norwegian saw his side edge out the Hornets at Old Trafford to move back into the Premier League’s top four.

Marcus Rashford and Martial got the goals in a narrow victory, but the latter also suffered a knock which could force him back onto the sidelines for a brief period.

Solskjaer told MUTV of his French forward: “He did [pick up a knock].

“I'm not sure how he’ll be for Tuesday, but we’ll check on him and we’ve got a couple of days now to get ready for Tuesday [against Wolves]. That’s the main thing.”

United will be looking for an improved performance when they head to Molineux in midweek.

While getting the job done against Watford, the Red Devils were far from their best, with Luke Shaw branding their second-half showing “awful” and admitting that they got “lucky”.

Solskjaer has echoed those comments in his assessment of a dogged display.

He said: “It's always hard work when you play in the Premier League and of course today it showed that we’d been away on internationals.

“It showed that a few players have been injured, not really 100 per cent match fit yet, but we got through it and that's important. We started off sloppily. “The first 15-20 minutes I think Watford deserved to get the lead. It was almost like we were waiting for them to score.

“We managed to change the system a little bit and got into the game. Juan [Mata] got into the game for us.

“We created chances. We scored a great goal, could have had more goals because it was end to end in the last 20 minutes of the first half. The second half was disappointing, again.”

Solskjaer added on the preparations for a crunch clash in an ongoing bid to finish inside the Champions League spots: “We've been excellent. The players have been excellent, they've done magnificently.

“The training on Friday was the best since I’ve been here, maybe too good. The intensity, the quality, the focus was good. Then we came out here and was a little bit we weren’t sure. “When three points are at stake, it's always a little bit more and you've got 76,000 people wanting you to do well. But after 15-20 minutes today we could see what the potential is in this group and second half we can improve on that one.”