Manchester, Sep 20 (IANS): Manchester United Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said that his team deserved to lose 1-3 to Crystal Palace at Old Trafford in their English Premier League opener on Saturday night. Solskjaer said that the team needed to catch up quickly in a short time.

"We didn't deserve to get anything from the game," he told Sky Sports.

"We started badly and slowly; we looked like a team early on in their preparation in pre-season. You could see that they came flying out of the traps. You could see the difference between their prep with four friendlies; and this is their third game this season whereas this is only our first game. We had one friendly last week but I think it showed. We were way short."

"You could see the physicality here this evening. They were sharper than us, they were stronger than us and we've got to catch up quickly. We can't wait to have a normal pre-season and our next game (against Luton Town in the Carabao Cup) is already on Tuesday."

Solskjaer guided United to three cup semi-finals and third in the Premier League during a promising first full season in the hot seat.