Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has refused to be drawn in on the criticism received by Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea.
De Gea was maligned for his role in Sunday’s 3-1 FA Cup defeat to Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday evening.
The Spaniard made two glaring mistakes that led to Chelsea goals, effectively ending United’s chances of winning their first silverware under Solskjaer.
United were second best throughout and weren’t deserving of a place in the final, but De Gea is understandably under the spotlight after an indefensible performance.
De Gea somehow let through Mason Mount’s pretty innocuous-looking shot and should have done better to keep out Olivier Giroud’s opener.
Many United fans have called for De Gea to be taken out of the firing line for the remaining two league games of the season, with the Reds unable to afford another goalkeeping howler in their bid to guarantee Champions League football.
But speaking in Tuesday morning’s press conference ahead of Wednesday’s crucial game against West Ham at Old Trafford, Solskjaer defended the mental strength of De Gea and refused to put any pressure on his number one ‘keeper.
“This is not going to become a David De Gea press conference, we’re just going to stick together,” said Solskjaer, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News.
“David’s mentally strong enough to know his job is to perform in training the next day and be ready for the games.
“Thats your job to talk about and write about and my job is to prepare a team for West Ham.
“We’re not gonna talks about individuals because no one here will feel we put pressure on them.
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