The only plus today' - Solskjaer says Pogba was the only positive in Utd defeat

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Paul Pogba was the only 

positive in Manchester United's embarrassing defeat at 

Premier League basement club Watford.

United became only the second team to lose to Watford 

all season in the Premier League and their first 

conquests at Vicarage Road, where a David de Gea 

howler and a mistimed tackle from Aaron Wan-Bissaka 

gifted Watford two goals in four second-half minutes.

Pogba made his comeback from nearly a 12-week lay-

off in the 64th minute at Vicarage Road and lifted United 

amid their attempts to salvage something from the 

game.

The 26-year-old is almost certain to start in the visit of 

Newcastle United on Boxing Day and Solskjaer said 

Pogba could have played for longer.

"The last half-an-hour, when Paul came on, was probably 

the only plus today," Solskjaer opined. "He gave us that 

little bit of edge, quality, urgency, played great passes 

over the top, he had some nice combinations, he had a 

chance himself.

"The boy's been working really hard to get fit and he was 

maybe ready to play more, let's see how he reacts to 

this."

The United coach was 30 minutes later than its planned 

arrival time of 12.30pm and not every player had 

disembarked the coach when the team news had been 

confirmed at 1pm.

United were infamously late for London defeats at 

Tottenham and West Ham in 2016 but Solskjaer refused 

to use it as an excuse for their anaemic display against 

Watford.

"There are many different reasons for the outcome in a 

game of football," he explained. "You create chances, 

you don't score goals, we created loads of chances 

towards the end but that was only after they went 2-0 up.

"So it's gotta start with more urgency, we've got to play 

better. We had loads of set-plays against other teams 

like City and Tottenham and didn't make the mistakes 

we did today.

"No excuses at all, we prepared well and there's nothing I 

can put my finger on. You can't really blame the incident 

with the traffic either, we were a little bit late, but then 

again sometimes you think, 'does that little affect us? Is 

that gonna affect us?' I don't think so. An hour here 

should be enough for us to prepare for the game."