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Solskjaer insists he's not worried by United's league position

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side trail leaders Liverpool by 22 points
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side trail leaders Liverpool by 22 points

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits his side did not deserve to win against Aston Villa but insists he is not yet concerned about their league position.

Having recovered from Jack Grealish's brilliant opener they took the lead through goalkeeper Tom Heaton's own goal and Victor Lindelof's header only to pegged back to 2-2 by Tyrone Mings' volley.

Victory would have lifted United to fifth, just six points behind Chelsea, but a second successive league draw moved them to only ninth.

"First half it seemed we couldn't get to grips with going 1-0 down, I didn't think we dealt with that particularly well," said the Norwegian, whose side have made their worst start to a league campaign since 1988-89.

"Second half was better. We created loads of big chances that should have won this game but overall I don't think we deserved to, especially after the first half.

"I wouldn't have sat here and talked about us being fifth if we had got that one goal extra, so the league table at this point is not the biggest concern because it is so tight.

"I just need to make sure that we get performances and get three or four performances after each other - and results.

"What I can say is so far we have had the lead in so many games and we haven't been able to win those games, six or seven times we've been 1-0 up, or 2-1 or 3-2 like last week.

"We should be better at seeing those games into wins."

Since being appointed permanent manager in March, Solskjaer has won just six of 22 league matches.

He has had to contend with injuries to key players, notably Paul Pogba this season, but he maintains there are signs of progress - even if the opening 45 minutes against Villa left him scratching his head having left his starting line-up at home to prepare instead of making the 6,000-mile Europa League round trip.

"I think there is loads of evidence these boys are closer to winning games than losing games," he said.

"We have to work on different things; the first half wasn't good enough because we worked on that as all the boys stayed here as the young boys went to Kazakhstan.

"They should have been out of the traps quicker."

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