Peter Schmeichel has questioned the decisions of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following Manchester United’s Champions League loss to Young Boys.
United crashed to defeat in their group stage opener against the Swiss side, with Jordan Siebatcheu capitalising on a poor back-pass from Jesse Lingard to score a stoppage-time winner for Young Boys.
Solskjaer’s side had taken the lead through Cristiano Ronaldo, but Aaron Wan Bissaka’s first-half red card prove the catalyst for the hosts to mount a comeback.
The Manchester United manager has come under criticism for his team selection and substitutions during the contest, having removed both Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes during the second half in Switzerland.
Schmeichel has questioned the decisions of Solskjaer following the loss and says his former teammate should have chosen his strongest team for the club’s Champions League opener.
“We can always question team selection, I just think when your next game is Sunday at West Ham, first game in the Champions League – why don’t you play your best team, your best players?” he told CBS Sports, as per the Mirror.
“I think when you look at Mason Greenwood, he’s in great form, he’s a young man, he creates chances and not only does he score he creates chances for others.
“(Raphael) Varane has just come to the club but I would’ve loved to see those two playing.
“Then he takes Ronaldo off. We as fans want Ronaldo to be on the pitch, regardless of if they’re down to 10 men, if he gets the ball he can make something happen.”
2 – Manchester United managed just two shots in this match, the fewest Opta have on record in any of their 138 UEFA Champions League matches since 2003-04. Their second and final shot of the match came in the 25th minute from Cristiano Ronaldo. Stalled. pic.twitter.com/tDuX3CSn87
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 14, 2021
Schmeichel also questioned the decision to substitute Ronaldo in favour of Lingard, with the latter having spent the second half of last season at West Ham after being deemed surplus to requirements.
“They were hoping for a very long time to have that kind of player [Ronaldo] and he puts somebody on that he last year he sent out on loan.
“He’s a player he tried to sell, tried to loan out, and he replaces him with Ronaldo, I just find it strange.
“But to get a result in-house, it’s 1-1, he puts Martial on, we talked about that, that was really weird because Martial doesn’t defend well.
“He doesn’t work hard, he’s a goalscorer but we’re down to 10 men, we don’t expect to create many chances, so why put Martial on?”
