Solskjaer reacts to De Gea howler after United’s defeat to Watford

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has defended Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea after his howler helped Watford secure only their second Premier League win of the season.

Bottom-placed Watford took the lead over United on Sunday courtesy of a shocking mistake from De Gea, who attempted to catch a scuffed shot from Ismaila Sarr but saw the ball go through his hands and into the back of the net.

Oh no, David de Gea 🙈

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Troy Deeney slotted home a penalty four minutes later as Watford clinched a much-needed win and condemned Manchester United to a shock defeat.

On De Gea’s error, Manchester United manager Solskjaer said: ‘It was a mistake, it happens in football and it is what we train for every day to make sure they don’t happen again.

‘David has been very good lately, it is just one of those things that happen. It’s one of those things.
‘He’s been so good in training and focused. One goal is a mistake and the second is penalty. David’s been very confident lately and I don’t look at it any other way.’

Reflecting on the game as a whole, Solskjaer added: ‘You have to earn every point on the pitch and today we didn’t deserve that. I can talk about it all day long.

‘We have to face the fact we have two games coming up that we have to improve on.

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‘We started the game slow. The first half was very, very poor from both sides and when you concede two goals like we did in quick succession with their two shots on target we gave ourselves too much to do.

‘We had been doing well but you have to earn every single point in this league. It was too slow, it was like a testimonial in the first half from both teams.’