Manchester United were defeated 2-0 by Manchester City in the Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday evening, putting an end to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s hopes of any early silverware this season.

It was a disappointing result for the United boss who has now seen his side lose in four semi-finals during the last two campaigns.

The Red Devils failed to get a foothold in the game as goals from John Stones and Fernandinho sent Man City on their merry way to Wembley.

  • Solskjaer’s thoughts on the performance.

United conceded both of their goals from set pieces, something that frustrated Solskjaer. He told Sky Sports:

 “City can score many great goals and you can accept that, but when you concede two set plays, simple ones that we should’ve cleared, you’re very disappointed and of course [we were] just not good enough in those moments.”

When asked if he thought his side had done enough to win the game, Solskjaer said:

“No we didn’t, clearly we didn’t. We didn’t create enough big chances ourselves, they didn’t create too many big ones either but we just didn’t have the extra finesse that we’ve had in the games lately. 

“We weren’t good enough today and of course when you concede two set plays that is very disappointing.”

Solskjaer does believe that his side are improving:

“We’re getting closer, this is a much better version of Man United compared to a year ago in those semis and that’s positive but it’s not enough.”

On whether or not losing a fourth semi-final has a psychological impact:

“It’s not psychological, sometimes you meet good teams in the semis and we just didn’t have enough.

“We met, at the moment, they’re probably the best team in England and for me we just didn’t have enough today.”

• Up next for United.

For United their ambition of winning the Carabao Cup is over, however, fixtures are coming up thick and fast for Solskjaer’s men. They have an FA Cup tie against Watford to focus on next, followed by trip to Burnley in the Premier League, all before they go head to head with reigning champions Liverpool in what promises to be an exciting encounter on January 17th.