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What Solskjaer told Manchester United stars at half-time to inspire Newcastle win

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Solskjaers team secured the win (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed he told his Manchester United side to cut out the mistakes and to stop offering the Newcastle crowd encouragement as they won a fourth league game on the spin under the new manager.

The Norweigian was unimpressed with his sides first-half performance and instructed his players to think carefully about how they managed the game in the second half against Rafa Benitezs Premier League strugglers.

United were guilty of several mistakes in the first half and Solskjaer warned his team to cut those out in a bid to frustrate the Geordie faithful, who have grown frustrated with results and performances at St James Park in recent times.

It worked a charm as Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford both got on the scoresheet to earn another vital three points for the Red Devils, as Solskjaer became just the second Manchester United manager after Sir Matt Busby to win his first four league games in charge of the club.

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The team talk today was about game-management, Solskjaer said.

United picked up three points (Picture: Getty Images)

And part of the game management is to keep the crowd quiet and I think the first 10 or 12 minutes we did really well, kept them at bay.

But then made one or two mistakes that got the crowd going and suddenly youre under pressure. [Christian] Atsu a couple of times. Phil made a great block when he got back in and tackled again.

But those are the moments you dont want to give a crowd and a club like this, I thought the lads got really into the game again and our fans, Ive said it so many times, are the best in the world.

Bigger tests lie ahead for Solskjaer in his reign as interim manager, but he is delighted with the manner his team have gone about their business.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Newcastle United v Manchester United - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - January 2, 2019 Manchester United interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer celebrates their second goal scored by Marcus Rashford (not pictured) REUTERS/Scott Heppell EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details. — Solskjaer was delighted (Picture: REUTERS)

Of course weve played teams on the lower half of the table but these games need to be won, you cant beat anyone else other than the team youre playing but the performance today was really professional, very solid, he added.

To come here against a club like this with the fans theyve got was excellent how the boys dealt with it second-half. First-half, I felt we kept them at bay but then after 15 minutes we made some mistakes, the crowd got going again, and thats always hard up here.

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Clean sheet on set-pieces. Weve had clean sheets in all the other games as well, every single game has been a clean sheet from open play but we never conceded on set-pieces.

But walking away with one of them doughnuts is great.