Manchester United 0-2 PSG: 5 Talking Points from Solskjaer's first defeat as United Manager

Modified Jul 04, 2019 11:47 GMT

A depleted PSG side outplayed United in every department

#1 Away Leg without Pogba will be tough

PSG showed the maturity of their older players on the night, getting United a couple of soft bookings. But perhaps the most surprising was Pogba’s second yellow card. The Frenchman and Dani Alves had both tried for a 50/50 ball and it was a clumsy coming together with the game almost over.

However, the referee deemed it too big a fault from Pogba to show him the second yellow card of the night and it is perhaps as devastating to United as the two goals conceded.

Even with Pogba on the field, United were outclassed and outplayed. The only few moments United looked to take the game to the away side was when Pogba was on the ball and in and around the box.

Without their mercurial Frenchman, the Red Devils are desperately short of creativity and midfield power in the team. The biggest problem is the absence of an able substitute in the squad.

Fred could carry out the role but is on a dreadful run of form. The same can be said of Andreas Pereira. Perhaps Mata is the only player who has the abilities to replicate some of the creative abilities of the Frenchman.

Whoever comes into the team in the away leg in place of Pogba will have big shoes to fill and the Frenchman will be a big miss in Paris.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written over 8500 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

Know More

Edited by Debjyoti Samanta