Solskjaer pays price for gaffe in midfield
JUST when United finally received a favourable semi-final draw, they failed to make the semi-finals.
It is now the Europa League or nothing for the team that serially wins nothing.
Their unbeaten domestic away run that dated back to January 2020 ended in the 29th game at Leicester, the scene of one of the Reds’ most maddening away defeats in recent times under Louis van Gaal.
This was another and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s mystifying management was reminiscent of the Dutchman’s.
United were without their two best players - Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw - from the start and they were part of the four-man cavalry in the 64th minute who came on looking to rescue the Reds, who were 2-1 down.
Only the attackminded Paul Pogba and Donny van de Beek were sacrificed and the faulty Fred reprieved.
Solskjaer went out of the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage against Wolves two years ago with a front six loaded with players back from injury, and he risked repeating the mistake at Leicester.
Pleasingly for him, Pogba and Van de Beek were instrumental in Mason Greenwood’s equaliser.
Starting the duo, only to hook them after barely an hour, suggested United were competing in a pre-season friendly rather than a quarter-final. Solskjaer knows Leicester are no mugs, they are third in the Premier League and recovered twice to draw with United on Boxing Day.
All the signs suggested they were underestimated on account of the absence of key personnel.
It is a measure of Solskjaer’s penchant for risk-aversion that he named Van de Beek and Pogba in the XI yet the midfield duo was Nemanja Matic and Fred. There has been an insistence on two of Fred, Matic and Scott McTominay in the absence of Pogba and Van de Beek and it continued with them present, with McTominay one of the four changes. The Scot collected a card and effectively assisted Kelechi Iheanacho’s free header for Leicester’s third goal. Whatever the combination, there was no debate as to which midfield duo was superior, Leicester’s balance of Wilfred Ndidi holding and Youri Tielemans marauding was a throwback to midfield partnerships of yesteryear. United’s starting duo looked like yesterday’s men. Tielemans was available two summers ago and he or Ndidi would still be upgrades on some of the incumbent midfield players Solskjaer has. Ndidi lured Matic out of position and released Tielemans to charge towards Dean Henderson’s goal, with Fred failing to anticipate the shot.
Fred nor Matic have that in their locker. To paraphrase an immortal summary of the England team by the recently departed wordsmith Martin Johnson, there are three things wrong with Fred: he can’t pass, he can’t tackle and he can’t shoot.
Fred’s funny five minutes in the first half featured an assist for Iheanacho and he was tantamount to a 12th man for Leicester.
He still had the gall to take umbrage with Harry Maguire’s admittedly risky pass to him, but Fred did not play it blind and the former City striker was well within eyeshot.
United’s transfer priority switches from centre-back to centre forward on a fortnightly basis and a commanding midfielder remains essential.
In successive weeks, Tielemans and Declan Rice have impressed against United midfields devoid of a fear factor.
They have it with Pogba, only he may
It is now the Europa League or nothing for the team that serially wins nothing Samuel Luckhurst
Youri Tielemans puts the Foxes back in the lead have commenced his farewell tour and United cannot countenance the scenario of selling him without replacing him. Even if it means losing such a complete talent for nothing next year.
Going off Solskjaer’s midweek rhetoric about trophies not providing a reliable gauge of progress, he will doubtless extract positives from United’s elimination, focusing on the league and the hollow ‘achievement’ of finishing a distant second to City.
The demanding Fernandes did not join United to bide his time to get his hands on silver handles and it is partly why Pogba has had his head turned by serial winners in Spain and Italy.
No new silver glistening in the
Mason Greenwood celebrates his United equaliser museum represents a ‘phenomenal success’ for the United managing director Richard Arnold, who this week used those very words to summarise Solskjaer’s tenure so far. Arnold, present at Leicester to utter the odd tepid ‘come on United,’ is more suited to the boardroom.
Ed Woodward and Matt Judge were also in attendance in the directors’ box and the latter, the new director of negotiations, has his work cut out this summer.
For all the attention centred on Fred’s stage fright, United gathered themselves after his howler.
Alex Telles defused the debate between Fred and Maguire, out of Portuguesespeaking
solidarity more than anything.
Greenwood did likewise, pointing to his temple during an understated celebration for the leveller.
It was not a coincidence United suddenly looked likely with the piqued Pogba on the ball in the final third after he was underused for the best part of 40 minutes.
The Frenchman assisted Greenwood’s first goal in 16 games but more memorable than the pass or the finish was Van de Beek’s deft dummy that Greenwood anticipated.
On the pitch and from the bench, those who could not congratulate Van de Beek personally hollered his name.
It will now mean nothing.
A TACTIC THAT IS ASKING FOR TROUBLE
IT’S been an obvious tactic for United this season to try and play out from the back, using their goalkeeper and Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof to lure a press in and play through the opposition, allowing the attacking players room to break into.
It’s certainly an approach that would suit the pace in the Reds’ frontline. By playing an extra pass or two around your own penalty area a team can lure in another presser and if they can then play through that press it can create excellent attacking opportunities.
But it can be a risky tactic as well and it’s one that requires defenders and defensive midfielders who are comfortable on the ball, which is where United are falling short.
There have been a few moments this season where Maguire and Lindelof and, usually, David de Gea, have played the ball around like it’s a hand grenade that could explode at any moment.
It was an approach that cost them against Leicester City, with Kelechi Iheanacho pouncing on a dreadful pass from Fred to round Dean Henderson and score.
There was a school of thought that felt some blame should be apportioned to Maguire for a pass into Fred in a difficult area, but that’s what you have to expect if you want to bring the press onto you.
Fred offered the ball and should be comfortable receiving possession in a difficult area.
It wasn’t the first time the Brazilian had been poor in possession in the first half and while he has clearly improved from his first season at the club, he still doesn’t convince as a good enough passer of the ball.
If Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to persist with his team playing out from the back then he might need to consider a change of personnel and finding players who are more comfortable with the ball at their feet on the edge of their own area.
VAN DE BEEK MUST OFFER MORE
DONNY van de Beek’s best contribution in his 64-minute outing was when he didn’t touch the ball, which is perhaps fitting for his travails in his first season at Old Trafford.
The Dutchman’s dummy to allow Mason Greenwood to equalise in the first half was an excellent example of his intelligence and game understanding, but that was about all he offered. He simply can’t impose himself on games as expected of someone playing in the position from which almost all of United’s creativity must flow.
There are mitigating circumstances given his recent injury. This was Van de Beek’s first appearance since Valentine’s Day, but so far his £35m move from Ajax has been a disappointment for both parties.
Van de Beek won’t lose his Holland place ahead of Euro 2020 on his club form, but there has been none of the ingenuity we saw from him at Ajax.
At the moment he looks like a player who simply doesn’t fit the style of his new club, in which cases questions must be asked about the process that led to his recruitment.
This was the fourth time in his last six starts that Van de Beek has been replaced by Fernandes.