BOURNEMOUTH – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lamented a 'lack of quality' from his Manchester United side after their recent revival ended in a 1-0 Premier League defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday.
Joshua King's volley close to halftime brought United down to earth after three successive away wins in all competitions and means they have still not won back-to-back Premier League games since Solskjaer was made permanent manager in March.
Solskjaer had started with an attacking lineup featuring a front four of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Daniel James and Andreas Pereira but they made little impact after a bright start.
The closest they came to equalising was through teenaged substitute Mason Greenwood late on as they huffed and puffed in windy conditions on the south coast.
"The front four looked promising but flattered to deceive a little bit today," said Solskjaer, whose side have 13 points from 11 games and sit in mid-table.
"It looked like we could create chances but just didn't have the last pass or last finish and that's something we need to improve. We had a lack of quality at times in front of goal.
"It was not a fantastic game of football. To win games you have to score goals."
Defeat left United seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea who were in action at bottom club Watford later.
"It's one of those things that if you want to be challenging for top four, you need to be winning games like this," Solskjaer said.
"We're disappointed. You have got to react, you have got to recover. We have two more games before the international break, we've got a chance on Thursday to qualify in Europe and then Brighton at home – so we need a response."