Ole Gunnar Solskjaer criticized referee Peter Banks for two fouls as Manchester United lost 2–1 to Sheffield United.

The Manchester United manager was unhappy with the referee for letting Ken Bryan’s opening goal stand at Old Trafford despite Billy Sharp’s interference with David de Gea, and Anthony Martial’s bid was ruled out minutes later.

Solshire said BT Sport: “It’s a mistake. Billy Sharp (De Gea) hit him so he can’t get up, so he’s wrong.”

When asked about Martial’s impermissible effort, Solskjaer said, “There is no mistake … But this kind of seasons, the contradictions, so it would be unexpected. But they are two errors by the referee.”

Saturday 30 January 5:00 pm

Starting off 5:30 pm

Solskjaer’s side had the opportunity to leap over Manchester City and return to the top spot, but froze under pressure against bottom-ranked Blades, who have won only once in the Premier League this season.

Aaron Ramsdale was not overly tested on Sheffield United’s goal as Manchester United had only four shots on target.

“We had all the possession, but when you hit two bad goals, it’s always going to be tough,” Solskjaer said.

“We didn’t create chances big enough to score enough goals.

“That magic was missing, and this thing a little extra. They advocated pretty well fair play but we didn’t have the right ideas or solutions.

“It wasn’t like that, the second goal we conceded was really bad, very dangerous. Easy. We stopped getting out on the ball, three or four wrong decisions out of character.

“There will not be much investigation. There have been many strange results this season but with the world as it is, we were the most stable team, it hit us today.”

Wilder: We showed our identity

The Blades had only five points to show from their first 19 games – the worst in Premier League history – and have not defeated the Red Devils since 1993, with their previous victory at Old Trafford in 1973.

Despite only six substitutes being named and having to rely on 38-year-old Phil Jagielka at center back – who would later feature the match’s best player – Chris Wilder’s men earned three points deserved.

“We have to play close to perfection to get results and if you make mistakes, you are punished,” Wilder said.

“It’s my brutal league and you have to be at your best every week. Sometimes it’s hard to do that. Tonight we were good, we were brave in possession when we had to be so and we created some small opportunities. You have to take those big moments and it took us two, to get a result.” .

“Slight deviation from the second goal but we all need to bounce the ball. We kept going, we had an identity and we showed it tonight. We had a little break, we took it and we were able to see the game over.”