Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's next task is to instill his own killer instinct into Manchester United team

It will be finding the killer instinct Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had as a player that will determine whether he will take Manchester United to the next level as a manager.

His team have done the hard work since January when they lost to Burnley, going unbeaten and making Bruno Fernandes one of the finest signings in Premier League history. All is left is to find the ruthlessness that deserted United against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team.

They had a chance to go third in the table, the first time they would have been in the Champions League places since September. But after leading 2-1 going into stoppage-time, United conceded a carbon copy of Solskjaer’s Champions League winner: corner, flick-on, instinctive finish home.

“I know the feeling the other way as well,” said the hero of United’s 1999 treble, when the Norwegian seized the chance of glory.

Solskjaer will now ask his players to show their mettle again. They have fought their way out of mid-table and now need to find that winners’ mentality forged by Sir Alex Ferguson, who watched the 2-2 draw from the directors’ box.

The United manager says there is no mental block from his players when it comes to taking advantage of other clubs slipping up, as Chelsea did at the weekend when they were defeated by Sheffield United. 

“I don’t think any of our players have been thinking ‘what have Chelsea done this weekend?’” he said. “Not at all. It’s just the way the games go, we play the same teams, we all have 38 games and it will even out. You deserve the position you get in the end.”

“The mentality of the boys has been brilliant, a few setbacks over the season and this is another challenge,” said Solskjaer.

United captain Harry Maguire was disappointed at conceding at a set-play, where he ended up running into one of his own players rather than an opponent.

“We have been good at defending set-plays recently and we have improved so much on this unbeaten run,” he said.

“At the start of the season we had a terrible record and conceded set-play after set-play. We have been really good lately and the guy can’t get a header in at our front post when we have four men around it.”