Rio: Solskjaer messed it up in Leicester tie

RIO Ferdinand has questioned Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s decision to rest key players against Leicester City.

Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw were both left out of the United line-up as they crashed out of the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage with a 3-1 defeat at the King Power Stadium.

Paul Pogba and Donny van de Beek were both handed starts after spells out of the team through injury, as Solskjaer shuffled his pack after a hectic run of fixtures.

Ferdinand, though, has suggested Solskjaer could have played his strongest team with an international break coming up while airing concerns about the team’s dependence on Fernandes.

“It was a bad weekend, I have to be honest,” Ferdinand said.

“Manchester United were done, Leicester were the better team. Ole (Gunnar Solskjaer) hit the nail on the head, there was no spark in the team. Questions will get asked.

“Should he have rested, with an international break coming, should they have played them and then let them rest this week coming?

“It shows you how much we rely on Bruno Fernandes, massively, and we didn’t perform.

“We looked leggy and they looked like a team with the bit between their teeth.

“You see the draw come out, you see Southampton in the semi-final. No disrespect but when you’re a dominant team and you see that, you think ‘we can destroy this team, it’s all on us’.

“To get that at a semi-final at Wembley, to get to the final, we missed a fantastic opportunity.”