What a game, Manchester United after being 2-0 down in the first-leg in Manchester made an amazing comeback with majority of the team comprised of reserve players and shocked Paris St. Germain 3-1 in Paris!
Needless to say as a Manchester United fan in far away Malaysia (since
Needless to say as a Manchester United fan in far away Malaysia (since
1981) to say I was delighted when United won is an understatement. I
did not need any virtual reality goggles to feel my legs go jelly
when Rashford was about to take that penalty kick, my heart pumping
100 miles per hour, in such moments you appreciate the true quality of
what a professional footballer goes through, well almost (also
appreciate the invention of cable and satellite TV) and Rashford once
again ..time and time again...proved his worth.
I hear so-much about that penalty and that it should not have been
given, let me be clear (I am taking a Obama stance) to say it was
unintentional or intentional might seem like a hard decision for
anyone to make let alone a ref..what is clear is Diego Dalot made a
direct attempt at goal from outside the box and the hand of Kimpebe
infringed play, intentional or not, it is something FIFA have to
probably look at the rules again, nobody can say that it was
intentional or not, in my book Kimpebe handled the ball with
intention, but another person could say otherwise.
The ref made a call according to the rules and guidelines of FIFA, so
move on, the show is over nothing to see here, until FIFA makes a
change to the rules.
Ex-player Syndrome
Another thing that fascinates me is the "Ex-player syndrome" an
epidemic much like polio thought to be eradicated, ex-player syndrome
first sprouted in the shores of Portugal and Spain, when Jose Mourinho
and Rafael Benitez two managers who never played professionally took
the helm of clubs and won domestic and continental trophies, the huge
and rampant success by them quickly proved to be the vaccine needed
for ex-players to shut up and stop stating that managers should be
ex-professional players. Recently it has been reported (Training
Ground Guru.com) to sprout again in Germany with Michael Ballack
calling it "Concept Coaches" and that ex-players should be coaching
especially youth instead of concept coaches. Seems like the virus has
mutated and it is now called concept coaches...well sounds more kooler
than manager who never played professionally.
In this case Owen Hargreaves (ex-Bayern Munich and Manchester United
player) stated that the penalty should not be given against PSG, and
he said an ex-player should be there in the VAR room and their
experience would be good. Hargreaves this is football not brain
surgery, If that was the case just put an ex-player there all alone,
what a kool job, it would be better than a box seat you could even eat
prawn sandwich while doing it and clubs could package a tour for fans
to visit ex-player in the VAR room..a drop in meet the fans moment and
go back when the ref needs you. Better still keep the ref and the rest
of the personnel in the room and have the ex-player sit like Captain
Kirk in Star Trek and when all are lost look at the ex-player in the
chair for moment of wisdom and say amen after he has given his
verdict.
On PSG
PSG should take a long hard look at themselves and Neymar too,
something is missing..OHH I know what it is ... a team,..technically
they are better than United and most teams actually..athletically they
are better too, but gelling as a team is something they have not
got..and for a long time, the Edinson Cavani and Neymar spat has not
been entirely solved and the fact Neymar still parties hard shows that
the manager does not have much say here. Hundreds and millions of
dollars have been spent on players with managers like Carlo Ancelotti,
Laurent Blanc, Unai Emery and now Tuchel, the Champions League still
beckons.
It is all about the psychological make-up of this team, Ancelotti
would have done the job I believe if Real Madrid did not come calling,
also the fact Thomas Tuchel does not get along well with their
Sporting Director Antero Henrique, which is no open secret, is not a
formula for a winning team. PSG have problems and this is having a
spillover effect on the field, Barcelona did the same thing to PSG
losing 4-0 in the first leg, Barca won the second leg 6-1. Why PSG
still went hell for leather with all out attack I have no idea, they
had the players to just pass out United and keep the ball, even after
letting in the first goal they could have just closed out United by
passing around and killing the game, not many teams have this quality
to do this, PSG had it, they had the scoreline on their side too, to
close the game, but no.. Tuchel went for lavish and expansive play,
maybe Ballack was right on the concept coaches thing...hmmm.
I thought after PSG made it 1-1, they would come to their senses, but
again the arrogance of them and Thomas Tuchel to still go for it
proved their undoing. Perhaps the owner Nasser bin Ghanim Al-Khelaïfi
also should take a long hard look at himself too, as even he gave the
excuse of the defeat to VAR, he did give some excuse before when PSG lost to
Barcelona , he should be applauded for bringing professionalism to
PSG and creating a top-class structure, but it seems it needs some
drastic renovation now.
On Solskjaer
I would still wait and not get carried away about him having the job,
just look at Santiago Solari, he was the golden boy a couple of months
ago, he was interim coach, but was given the job permanently. Spanish
FA rules also did not help Real Madrid here, as their rules dictate
that a interim manager can only be there for two weeks and after that
the club must name a permanent manager and look what happened now!
Another good example is Roberto Di Matteo who was named interim
manager half-way through the season and won the Champions League that
season in 2012 ! He was named permanent manager the next season and it
went pear shape and proved to be his last season at Chelsea.
Solskjaer's still has not got his defence right at United, his
previous record at Molde of letting in 222 goals in 183 games and at
Cardiff City 25 games 51 one goals given away by their defence is not
something to be proud of, yes United are winning, but they struggled
against Spurs in the league game despite winning 1-0 and the man of
the match was David De Gea who saved 11 shots that day. They were
outplayed in the scoreless draw against Liverpool despite having more
chances. Solskjaer proved his naivety in that match, by putting in an
injured Jesse Lingard in as substitute only to limp off in a few
minutes of the match. He duly replaced him with Sanchez who was fit,
you always put in your strongest team and fitter players first,
everyone knows that so why did Solksjaer do that? Why didn't he put
Sanchez in first or even bring another player as sub instead of
wasting it on Lingard? It forced United to play a certain way in the
second half without the option of a substitute as United used all in
the first half.
The players decide to "turn-up" for the matches unlike under Mourinho,
granted managers make great teams and influence in the long term...I
emphasize long-term, but to be jumping now and blowing balloons
and bringing the cake out now, would be a big mistake.
He is not a master tactician and you can see Mike Phelan schooling
him on this especially on the defence during matches. In the first leg
against PSG, Solksjaer did not have an answer to Marquinhos man
marking Pogba and which frustrated Pogba who got sent-off. Ashley
Young was also taken to the cleaners in the first leg by Angel Di
Maria, Young was better when he was shifted back to his right-back
position after Eric Bailly came off in the second leg and performed
better than the first-leg, although I still think it is time Young
leaves United at the end of the season.
I cannot help, but feel Sir Alex Ferguson and Mike Phelan laid out the
plans for the second leg, it was all out defence with rapid
counter-attacks, something Solksjaer has hardly done this season so
far, he has always been about attack, attack and attack. The good
thing about Solksjaer though is that he is willing to listen to good
counsel and he encourages and is happy that to have this and did not
rebel when Mike Phelan came back, he encouraged it, something David
Moyes did not listen to when Sir Alex suggested to maintain the
back-room coaching staff. There are not much candidates to go around
with, so it is likely Solksjaer will get the job.
Since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first match in charge on 22 December, 2018
only Manchester City (15) have won more matches in all competitions
than Man Utd (14) among teams in the top five European leagues.
Manchester United have now scored in 21 consecutive away matches in
all competitions, equaling the club record set between November 1956
and September 1957 under Sir Matt Busby.
Manchester United have also kept up to their youth tradition with
Mason Greenwood becoming the youngest player to appear for Manchester
United in the Champions League, aged 17 years and 156 days, breaking
the record held by Gerard Pique (17y 310d). It was also the first time
in European Cup history that a team going 2-0 down at home have
come back to win in an away match, Marcus Rashford also took a penalty
for the first time and scored, as Ruud Gullit said, Solksjaer is a
good coach, but he is also very lucky...well i will take it.
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