WHAT is important, Alex Ferguson always used to say, is not that a team loses but how it responds to defeat. The honeymoon for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was always going to end at some point but defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday perhaps brings certain issues into focus.
The first, perhaps, is that this shouldn’t come as a great surprise.
Solskjaer has done a remarkable job of cleansing Manchester United of the disaffection and disillusionment that had set in under Jose Mourinho, and has shown himself already to be more tactically innovative than many expected, but there are limits to how far a breath of fresh air can carry any side.
That’s not to say that the Solskjaer effect has worn off. Any coach can lose to Paris Saint-Germain who, even without a number of key players, have a formidable squad. Indeed, it may even be that the absence of certain key players made it easier for Thomas Tuchel to select an effective side for the game at Old Trafford. But what Tuesday’s defeat did highlight was certain structural issues within United. Jose Mourinho frequently pointed them out; it’s just that when a manager’s natural mode of address becomes self-serving self-justification, the tendency is to assume every complaint is an excuse.
None of the 34 teams to have lost a home #UCL tie by two or more goals has progressed to the next round#MUFC #PSG pic.twitter.com/XwMG7ZIwrt
— Unibet (@unibet) February 13, 2019
The first half against the Parisians was relatively even, a strangely ragged game in which both sides looked more dangerous on the break, while both sides were aware if the danger of over-committing. But the game changed with the injuries to Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.
Perhaps the visitors would have been able to impose themselves anyway in the second half – and they had probably been marginally the more threatening before half-time – but their task was made easier by the fact their full-backs in the second half could push forwards without the risk of being undone by great pace in wide areas. Juan Mata has never been fast, while Alexis Sanchez’s pace has deserted him with his form.
The defence has been an issue for some time, something that has only partially been masked by the excellence of David De Gea. When he suffered a slight dip in form earlier in the season, the full scale of the problem became clear. Only two excellent saves from De Gea in the minutes after Kylian Mbappe had made it 2-0 prevented the tie from being absolutely finished there and then. In part, that’s a matter of personnel – quite aside from the doubts about Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof, brought in for a combined cost of £60m, an elite side probably wouldn’t choose to have a 33-year-old converted winger as essentially their only option at right-back – in part perhaps of drilling and in part of the cover offered by the midfield. Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera have both improved under Solskjaer but their limitations were exposed on Tuesday.
It’s a strange truth that the defeat to Paris Saint-Germain only felt so disappointing for United because of the improvement under Solskjaer. After the euphoria of his first couple of months in the job – 10 wins and a draw from 11 games – there was always likely to be some sort of regression to the mean, not least because the fixture list had been relatively kind. United had beaten Tottenham and Arsenal away, it’s true but the rest of Solskjaer’s games in charge have been games United, with a fair wind, would expect to win.
This five-week spell was always likely to be the real test. Not only did United have Paris Saint-Germain, but they also face Chelsea away on Monday in the FA Cup, which now represents United’s only realistic hope of a trophy, as well as having home games against both Liverpool and Manchester City. If Martial and Lingard are out for any length of time, that run becomes even more testing.
It’s not a simple case that if United win those games Solskjaer deserves the job; it’s more how he handles difficult matches now the tide that had been carrying him has begun to turn. And even if there are positive results in some or all of those games, there remain serious underlying issues at United to do with scouting, youth development and recruitment.
Defeat on Tuesday simply exposed what has been clear at United for some time, that there are major underlying issues that go far beyond the manager. Solskjaer, up to now, has dealt with those problems far better than Mourinho was in his final months at the cub, but he is not a messiah. Whether he is the right manager to take the job long term will become clearer over the next month.
A £10 bet on Man United to qualify against Paris Saint-Germian returns £120
