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Solskjaer: Ban anonymous social media accounts to stamp out racism


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Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says social media companies must be more pro-active in tackling racist abuse. 

Both Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial received vile, racist comments online following Wednesday's 2-1 Premier League defeat to Sheffield United.

Manchester United immediately condemned the abuse when it came to light, saying they were disgusted by what was posted on Martial and Tuanzebe's Instagram accounts.

When asked on Friday if more should be done regarding such incidents, Solskjaer said, "I think the social media platforms needs to be looked at, yeah.

"If you can create anonymous accounts, abuse people, of course it's not right. We'll work together with everyone to stop this nonsense."

We're his family

The United manager was asked how Tuanzebe had reacted mentally to the abuse, replying, "Axel's fine, [I've] spoken to him. Obviously it's not nice.

"He's a strong boy, a strong character; he's got good support from his family.

"We're his family in the club, his team-mates are his family.

"It's something we don't expect to see now but you're not really surprised when it happens once in a while because, as we said, there are some people you feel sorry for. That's what you have to do for these individuals."

Solskjaer added, "It's just incredible that we have theses scenes still, or this abuse, still in 2021.

"We've been campaigning for a long time now in the Premier League and, to be honest, I think it's working but there are still some people that haven't got it.

"They hide behind social media, are anonymous and it's unacceptable. It's disgusting.

"Players and everyone, we've spoken to each other of course and they're fine, to put it that way.

"They're not Man United fans anyway when this happens. We're standing behind every single one of our players."

Oh Jesse hold on

Meanwhile, Jesse Lingard is to spend the rest of the season on loan at West Ham.

It's believe there's no option for the Hammers to make the deal permanent, and Solskjaer is looking forward to his return to Old Trafford already.

We want Jesse to come back here revitalised and having shown at West Ham how good of a player he is, of course.

He's just been unfortunate with a couple of issues, some periods he had to stay away form us with Covid and isolation, close contact.

The rest of the team has done well. We've had little to no injuries and he's not forced his way into the team unfortunately. I want him to go there, enjoy himself, show how good a player he is and come back as a United player through and through.

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Anthony Martial Axel Tuanzebe Jesse Lingard Manchester United Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Premier League Racism West Ham

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