Solskjaer believes the Red Devils have had a great season in the Premier League by competing with newly-crowned champions Manchester City until the end.
Manchester United’s hope of winning the Premier League mathematically ended when they were beaten at home by Leicester City on Tuesday, which means their local rivals City have clinched their third league title in four seasons.
"The whole season has given us optimism and room for optimism but also improvement,” Solskjaer said.
“We have pushed Manchester City all the way, until 10-12 days left in the season and it is a very good achievement because they are a very good team. They are very worthy champions. I have to say congratulations because they have played some fantastic stuff this season.”
The former Cardiff City and Molde FK head coach then reflected on his side’s 2-1 home defeat at the hands of the Foxes.
Solskjaer said: “We’ve had loads of games recently and had to make changes and that went against us a little bit. Amad [Diallo]] was very good. [Anthony] Elanga gave us something different and I thought Mason [Greenwood] was absolutely fantastic. I know what he can do finishing.
“It’s all the other bits, his robustness, resilience and the way he led the line. He thought he needed to take responsibility and he did that the whole night but I had to take him off because he has played three games in five days.
“We did a bit in training on Monday and before the game so we did not have a lot of time to prepare and you could probably see that early on."