Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted his Manchester United side aren’t in the same class as rivals Manchester City and Liverpool – but doesn’t believe his job is under immediate danger.

United were outclassed as City recorded a 2-0 win at Old Trafford on Saturday lunchtime thanks to an Eric Bailly own goal and Bernardo Silva’s second on the stroke of half-time.

City could easily have emulated Liverpool’s 5-0 win on the same ground a fortnight ago if not for a string of excellent David de Gea saves in the first-half as United failed to land a punch on their rivals.

United could end the weekend as low as 10th in the Premier League table and there will be renewed scrutiny on Solskjaer’s position as we enter the international fortnight.

Asked on Sky Sports if he was on borrowed time, the United boss said: ‘No, I don’t. There is good communication all the time with the club, we are up front and honest with the situation.

‘I work for Man United and want the best for Man United. I want to do what I can to improve this and that is to go back to what we were playing like.’

Questioned if the result and performance demonstrated a gulf in class between United and the Premier League title challengers, Solskjaer said: ‘At the moment we are [a long way off] but we have to get back to how we started to look like.

‘We started to look like a proper team towards the end of last season and the start of this season. We have to get back to that.’

Solskjaer stuck with the 3-5-2 system that had worked so well in last Saturday’s 3-0 win at Tottenham but the result was United were swamped by City from the first whistle.

Bailly’s shocking own goal, which saw him send Joao Cancelo’s low cross past De Gea while attempting to clear, ruined the game plan just seven minutes in.

The second City goal saw even more shocking defending as Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire stood ball-watching as Cancelo’s floated pass led to Silva squeezing the ball in at the back post.

‘You want to get to them and you want to make it into a derby game and make some tackles’, Solskjaer said.

‘When they got the first goal, it was always going to be difficult anyway but being 1-0 down was hard. David kept us in the game with some god stops then they scored a goal they always score.

‘Cancelo cuts inside, crosses to the back stick – we know it’s going to happen and it shouldn’t happen.

‘They played well, they don’t give you opportunities to win the ball off them. We were not at our level or standards.

‘We didn’t trust ourselves with the all, we didn’t pass as well as I know they can do and we didn’t find the angles. Sometimes that’s also the team you are playing against.

‘They press well and made it hard for us but we sometimes made the wrong solution or found the right solution but with no execution.’

United find themselves six points behind City after that result and play Watford next on November 20.