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Rob DawsonCorrespondent
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said victory over Tottenham will not erase the humiliation suffered at the hands of Liverpool but praised his players for the way they bounced back following a difficult week at Old Trafford.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford scored to hand United a 3-0 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium less than a week after the 5-0 hammering against Liverpool.
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The result will ease some of the pressure on Solskjaer but the Norwegian said defeat to Liverpool still stings.
“That’s always going to be in the history books, one of the darkest days,” Solskjaer told BBC Sport. “A dark spot on our CV. But football becomes history so quickly.
“When you come off the pitch winning 3-0, keeping the ball away from our goal — David de Gea didn’t have a save to make — that’s pleasing. In football sometimes it goes for us and sometimes against.
“We worked on this this week. The boys were brilliant, they took it on board.”
Solskjaer made a tactical switch against Spurs bringing fit-again Raphael Varane into a back three alongside Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof.
He also paired strikers Ronaldo and Cavani — with a combined age of 70 — in the oldest team he’s picked since taking over as manager in December 2018.
“The experience of Edinson Cavani and Cristiano is massive,” Solskjaer added. “We need it. We can’t hide. The week has been difficult for all the players. They really stuck at it. Experience counts in situations like this.
“We’ve got a hard week again. Champions League game then Manchester City. We’ve got to digest this one and be ready for Tuesday.”
Rashford came off the bench in the second half to score United’s third goal — his third in four games since returning from injury — and afterwards offered his support to Solskjaer.
“It’s obviously been a difficult week, it is for any team when you don’t win,” Rashford said. “We’ve responded the only way we know how.
“Part of playing for this club is to come out of difficult moments; this club has always bounced back.
“I think [Solskjaer’s] prepared for the team we’re playing against. We all have to buy into what the manager tells us to do. Today that helped us come away with the three points.”