Reality check needed for Man United fans and critics, not Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or his players

Matt Jones - Editor 00:01 14/02/2019
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  • Manchester United have finally lost and, if you were using Twitter on Tuesday night, it might have felt like the world was ending.

    Whether it was the outrageous, yet totally believable, overreaction from United fans claiming the comprehensive 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain proved that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is not up to being boss full time. Or the giddy goading of Red Devils fans by supporters of rival teams, thankful the Norwegian’s blistering start had finally run its course, it was predictable pandemonium.

    The inevitable avalanche of opinions cascaded down following the full time whistle at Old Trafford as keyboard warriors and so-called supporters either shrieked with delight or sank into solitude.

    Solskjaer has been depicted as something akin to a Norse god for his almost otherworldly transformation of United in a meagre six weeks at the helm. He has reinstalled the players’ confidence, the fans’ joy and the team’s swagger – and it all appears to have been done with the utmost simplicity. That won’t disappear due to a maiden defeat or one poor performance.

    United were second best on Tuesday, there is no denying that. The defeat came in the game both Solskjaer and the fans would have wanted to shine more than any of the other 11 under the interim manager.

    Kimpembe

    And yet, although the majority will want to pick through the bones of a damaging defeat that leaves progress in Europe almost impossible, United were simply beaten by a better team. Essentially, there isn’t a need for any deeper analysis than that.

    But, of course, we shall dive deeper.

    PSG are currently a better team than United, that’s just a simple fact of where both sides are right now. Collectively and individually as players, from the club’s standing down to the manager, PSG are superior.

    As United have generally been on the slide since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, PSG have been pushing forward, breaking into the European elite and earning a seat back at the continent’s top table following the intervention and investment of Nasser Al-Khelaifi in 2011.

    Since finishing runners-up to Barcelona in 2010/11, United have only once returned to the Champions League’s quarter-finals, twice failing to get out of their group.

    PSG have only once failed to make the knockouts and even though they’ve flattered to deceive on the grandest stage – they are yet to make a semi-final appearance – they have been beaten by the best. Barcelona (x3), Real Madrid, Manchester City and Chelsea in the last six years.

    Domestically, United have finished seventh, fourth, fifth, sixth and second as PSG have plundered four Ligue 1 titles out of five.

    They have players of greater quality. Sure, Solskjaer has unlocked so much potential during his early tenure.

    Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial have been totally transformed. Yet Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani have been tearing European defences apart for years.

    The Parisiens possess a manager that is tactically superior to Solskjaer, no matter how much the 45-year-old has consigned his perceived lack of strategic nous to the flames – evidenced by impressive wins over Tottenham and Arsenal.

    The former United striker has galvanised a disenfranchised squad, but Thomas Tuchel has had longer to mould the Parc des Princes pretenders into his own vision. The German has had nearly a year to instill his own ideas.

    His brilliance as a tactician was fully evident in victory. Neymar, Cavani and Thomas Meunier would be absent.

    Tuchel reacted with a game plan that part stifled United’s flowing momentum – Marquinhos did a sterling job nullifying the pull of Pogba. And after a tetchy and tense first half, his team seized the momentum when Martial and Jesse Lingard – so key to the way United play under Solskjaer – were both forced off at the break.

    Kept quiet up until his goal, Mbappe then burst into life as PSG pressed forward, sniffing blood, and he was clinical as United were quickly killed off. Breathtaking from the visitors, brilliant from the manager.

    Regardless of missing talent, PSG are a world-class team that have been together a long time. There is even an argument to make that they are a more efficient unit devoid of the show-boating histrionics of the most expensive player in the game.

    United's huge progress under Solskjaer should not be easily forgotten.

    United’s huge progress under Solskjaer should not be easily forgotten.

    There was talk of defeat being a reality check for United, who have steamrollered their way to success under Solskjaer. Yet the reality is that defeat was actually one of fine margins.

    Martial and Lingard’s injuries were of far more significance to United than the Neymar and Cavani absences to PSG. Losing two players crucial to your game plan in a matter of minutes is going to be a conundrum any manager struggles to conjure up an answer for.

    With these two fleet-footed, intelligent players replaced by static Juan Mata and the underperforming Alexis Sanchez, PSG purred as the second half began and pressed home their increasing grip on the game just eight minutes after the restart when Presnel Kimpembe volleyed in the opener.

    Of course, the very fact Kimpembe was on the field was baffling, having twice escaped a second yellow card.

    Nemanja Matic switched off for the corner from which he scored, while Ander Herrera’s ceding of possession in the opponents’ penalty box was ruthlessly punished by PSG on the counter as Mbappe prodded in Angel Di Maria’s precise cross.

    The inevitable defeat has arrived, yet the world is not ending. United’s universe is still very much spinning.

    And, for Solskjaer, this is just the beginning.

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