How Manchester United used Tranmere pitch to their advantage

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was delighted with his players’ attitude after Manchester United ran out 6-0 winners at Tranmere in the Emirates FA Cup.

United flew out of the traps with five first-half goals and finishing the afternoon with six different names on the scoresheet.

First goals for the club from Harry Maguire and Diogo Dalot were followed by efforts from Jesse Lingard, Phil Jones, and Anthony Martial, all before the break, and then a penalty by Mason Greenwood in the second period as the Reds ruthlessly ensured the 60 places between the two teams in the league pyramid was reflected on the pitch.

Speaking to MUTV after the final whistle, the manager praised the application of his side and also looked ahead to the fifth round, the draw for which takes place on Monday evening.

WE APPLIED OURSELVES WELL

“You see that pitch and I can understand if players feel I don’t want to play on this. We made sure before the game we had the right attitude. Go out there and do the job. Everyone is waiting for us to fail because it’s set up for that and they were excellent, the players. Of course, early on they had a little burst in the first few minutes. We stood up well against it and when you score three goals in 15 minutes you’re delighted. Different scorers, which also is good, confidence spread around, clean sheet, we scored on a set play so loads of positives.”

ON MAGUIRE’S STRIKE

“We’ve been waiting for that [goal] for a long time! It’s a great way for [Harry] to open his account and let’s hope he continues. The strikers scored in the end, Jesse scored so I’m very pleased with the attitude. We made it look easy at times and I thought we played well on this pitch. We were excellent.”

THE PITCH WASN’T AN ISSUE

THE FIFTH-ROUND DRAW

“We might get a home game [five of United’s last six matches have been away], you never know! I don’t want to jinx anything, but let’s wait for the draw.”

CITY AND WOLVES NEXT UP

“Another long week. It’s been a relentless two months and we’ve got two more games before we have a little break, so the players will have energy enough for those two games.”