“It’s unacceptable from the press and they know who they are.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has come down hard on the ‘lies’ published about Paul Pogba in the wake of Manchester United’s 5-0 defeat to Liverpool last weekend.
Pogba was sent off just 15 minutes after coming off the bench for an overzealous tackle on Naby Keita, prompting criticism from all angles for such naivety from one of the team’s senior players.
But criticism is one thing, and lies are another.
Pogba called out The Sun newspaper for publishing a story that claimed the Frenchman had ‘snubbed’ his manager after the game, labelling the story ‘fake news’ in a tweet captioned ‘Big lies to make headlines.’
The club’s official Twitter account then came out in support of Pogba, retweeting his post with the message: ‘Strength in unity.’
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of United’s clash with Tottenham on Saturday, Solskjaer has said that printing such stories is ‘unacceptable from the press and they know who they are.”
🗣 "When someone's down people want to make up stories. It's unacceptable from the press and they know who they are."
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Paul Pogba was very angry about the stories that were published this week pic.twitter.com/ht1jJ3DGl0
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 30, 2021
“He was so angry,” the Norwegian said of Pogba.
“When someone is down, people want to make up stories, which is not acceptable. Lies.
“Any report on how bad we were, or give an opinion, that’s fine. But don’t make up lies. Paul was really strong on that.”
Solskjaer was also keen to emphasise the ‘much better culture’ around the club than in previous years, saying “the players are good, honest professionals.”
“They’re good players. Good people. And I’m not having that from the press. That’s unacceptable and they know who they are.
“When players see that about them, blatant lies, they react, because we’ve come too far to be unraveled by lies.”
Following the Liverpool defeat, Solskjaer was reportedly given three games to save his job, and the team will need to put in a completely different performance against Tottenham to convince both fans and the board that he is still the right man to take the team forward.
