Pranav Nair
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did not take off Fred
According to The Express, Tim Sherwood has accused Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer of making a poor decision by keeping Fred on.
The Brazilian midfielder was lucky to avoid a red card after headbutting Leandro Paredes. While the Argentine made the most of it, there could have been no arguments had Fred received his marching orders.
Thankfully, he was given only a yellow card and stayed on to fight another another. Unfortunately he wouldn’t even last the hour.
The 27-year-old clattered into former Untied star Ander Herrera as he attemtped to recover the ball in the second half. The second yellow saw him out and United down to ten men.
Having just conceded moments earlier, the twin blows effectively gave PSG the momentum. Neymar would grab his second of the night in stoppage time as the French champions prevailed 3-1.
Sherwood believes the Red Devils could have made life easier for themselves had they taken off Fred before the second half. Bringing n a creative midfielder could have helped expose the weakness in the PSG rearguard.
“I think he missed a trick by not taking him out of the firing line.”
With Paul Pogba and Donny van de Beek on the bench, United had options to bring on. Sherwood believes either player would have helped his team’s cause had Solskajer made the decision.
The Norwegian for his part admitted that he considered taking off Fred at half-time. He went on to add that he also believed the midfielder’s second yellow was an unfair call.
More Manchester United News
- Andrei Kanchelskis has said that Paul Pogba should leave the club and slams his agent Mino Raiola
- Michael Owen advises Solskjaer to make Dean Henderson his first-choice goalkeeper
- Manchester United are said to be one of the clubs monitoring Brighton and Hove Albion defender Ben White
While hindsight is a good thing to have, Solskjaer did get his decisions wrong in the second half.
It might not necessarily have seemed so given how open PSG looked at the back. We cut through their backline numerous times with Edinson Cavani and Anthony Martial missing gilt-edged chances.
Unfortunately, what matters is whether who puts the ball in the back of the net. PSG did that better than us, condemning us to a frustrating loss.
