Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Says 'Reality Hit' Manchester United This Season

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he and his side have had a reality check after finishing sixth in the Premier League this season. 

United came second with 81 points last season but ended this campaign with 15 fewer points after Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho in December.

Per Goal's Chris Burton, when asked on United's official app about the lessons he has learned from the season, the Norwegian said:

"I've learned that I don't like losing. I like winning.

"We started off fantastically. The boys were unbelievable when I came in. We were positive. We won games.

"The whole group gelled together and I enjoyed winning, but I know that football is hard. You can't just expect everything to go that way and the reality hit us.

"We are in a league with loads of very good teams and, to be at our top [level], we need to be 100 per cent focused.

"We came into some games really, really focused with the full team, and I thought that was fantastic.

"Then you learn a lot when you go through tough times and think about who can we build this team around, and who we think is going to take the next step because we need to go to the next level."

United started life under Solskjaer in superb form, winning eight matches in a row and 14 of their first 17 games in all competitions.

However, with their 2-0 loss to relegated Cardiff City on the final day, they ended the season with just two wins from their final 12 matches.

Football writer Liam Canning was almost in disbelief at what he saw on Sunday:

In the Premier League, they shipped 54 goals, almost twice as many as last season's 28, and scored three fewer.

ESPN's Alex Shaw spoke for many United fans after the campaign finished, while Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News put their efforts into further damning perspective:

Solskjaer's positive approach on and off the pitch was a stark contrast to the negativity that embodied Mourinho's final months in charge, but the team's regression after their bright start under the new manager was a reminder there are systemic problems that run throughout the club and the squad.

Though last season showed that this current crop of players, which was largely the same aside from a small number of changes, are capable of much better than they produced in this campaign.

However, they're still well off the pace set by domestic rivals Manchester City and Liverpool or able to cope with teams like Barcelona, who comfortably knocked them out of the UEFA Champions League in the quarter-finals.

The drop-off was also a reminder that Solskjaer is still relatively inexperienced as a manager, and we're yet to see him show he can turn things around once results begin to slide.

That will be among the biggest tests he'll face next season, but before then it's imperative the club get their recruitment right in the summer to give him the tools he needs to help them finish higher.