Solskjaer says Man United defending unforgivable

“The first one we forget about the man up top and that’s unforgivable. The second one, we’re not very well organised to counter-press and win the ball back when we’re playing. So two tough goals to give away and then we didn’t have enough to come back second half.

“We scored from a cross, a good goal by Anthony, and then you think 45 minutes to save something from the game but second half we threw everything at it but we couldn’t break them down.

“It’s not easy to be positive now. Of course it isn’t when you’ve just lost the way we did. But these players, they’re good players and we have a chance on Saturday morning to get going again.”

However Solskjaer did see the funny side of a question in the post-match press conference when asked if he feared for his job after recent results.

“I decline to comment on such a thing,” Solskjaer said. “Of course, it’s early on and opinions are out there all the time. You’ve got to stay strong. I’m employed by the club to do a job and I do that to the best of my ability with my staff.

“We weren’t good enough, the full game,” Solskjaer added, again criticising his side for the opener, which saw Nemanja Matic leave Demba Ba free behind him, as Istanbul found him with a simple hoof up the pitch.

“You play a short corner and everyone forgets the players we’re playing against. Demba Ba gets in behind us, there’s a lack of communication and lack of decisions.

“You don’t usually see those goals at this level, you shouldn’t concede easy goals like this, you know how hard it is to create chances and create goals. And when you give easy and soft goals [away] like the ones here today it makes it a lot harder.”