Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted he agreed with aspects of Roy Keane's rant at Manchester United's flops following their derby defeat against Manchester City.
United fell to a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford on Wednesday night and struggled to match Pep Guardiola's side throughout the game, managing only one shot on target.
It was United's seventh defeat in nine matches and former United midfielder Keane was not pulling any punches in the studio.
Keane was furious after the game as fellow pundit Gary Neville gave a positive assessment of United's performance, interjecting: 'They've had one shot on target Gary, one shot on target at home.'
On midfielder Fred, he added: 'That's cheating, what's (Fred) done is cheating, letting the guy run off him.'
Keane continued: 'Look Gary, they're strolling across! Fred sells himself short here. He gives the ball away, which can happen, then compounds it.
'You do not let (Raheem) Sterling then get goal side of you. Why aren't people trying to stop the shot?
'If that's a player giving it their all, then Manchester United are in even more trouble than I think, and I think they're in huge trouble.'
When Keane's outlook was put to the United manager after the game, Solskjaer seemed to agree with elements of it.
'With Roy I've always had a great relationship with him,' Solskjaer said after the match.
'And, how do you say, I value his opinion very highly and he's got his opinion.
'We played together for many, many years and he's a Man United guy, as well, he hurts just as much as anyone else connected to us, that we are so far behind City as we are.
'And that's my job, to make sure when we come back for pre-season that I have the right characters in and around [the squad]. Because that should never be allowed.
'Because when you're at Man United the spotlight will be on you, headlines, and you've got to make sure you come into work every single day with the effort like they gave today. That's your duty.'
United are now three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea in the race for Champions League qualification.
Solskjaer suggested United's players need to learn to deal with the pressure that comes with playing for the club.
'That's what you sign up for when you play for Man United – the expectations,' the Norwegian added. 'Of course, the history, you can look back on that.
'But we are where we are now and as I've spoken to you [the media] about in the last few weeks, we have to take step by step and make sure we're on the right track, and do it quickly.
'Because you can't linger along for many, many years, because the Premier League is so competitive and you'll suddenly be caught up by other teams.
