The interruption after the head-on collision between Issa Diop and Anthony Martial gave Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the time for one-on-one coaching with Donny van de Beek. Solskjaer is animated and seems to demand more urgency. Michael Carrick also converted. Whatever the message was, it did not get through.
Van de Beek was replaced by West Ham at half-time in the Premier League series two months ago and lasted longer at least on Tuesday night. It was still a disciplinary night for the 23-year-old in his short career at Manchester United as at London Stadium on 5 December, which was still his last league career.
From the first moments, Van de Beek was no longer with his teammates, and Carrick had to pull him by the collar because he had strayed into the right back area. Van de Beek politely advised Fred to succeed faster at the start of the first half, but towards the end of it Mason Greenwood gave a short while when frustration increased.
Viewers do not have to wait for ’34’ to appear on the board to know that Van de Beek’s number is up, when Solskjaer finally called Bruno Fernandes in the 72nd minute. Van de Beek (23) has the misfortune to be compared to the phenomenal Fernandes due to their playmaker status, and Solskjaer will have to change tact with United’s big summer acquisition.
Van de Beek would have worked better from one of the deep-seated midfield roles that Fred and Nemanja Matic held. It was too cautious and Solskjaer admitted that Matic linked Scott McTominay at the same time for goal. McTominay’s gun winner scored his seventh goal of the campaign. Van de Beek is still one.
In September, October and November it was a case why Solskjaer did not play Van de Beek. In December, January and now February would Solskjaer play Van de Beek? This is some shift and the Henrikh Mkhitaryan comparisons are superfluous. Mkhitaryan took three months to get going.
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“I thought in the first half we and Donny played very well,” said Solskjaer. “We created spaces, there were one or two that he was part of. He did his job neatly and neatly, he had a half chance when Alex [Telles] pull it back to him.
“Of course the whole team fell apart a bit in the second half and we just wanted to make a few changes.”
Van de Beek’s recall coincided with the start of Paul Pogba’s dismissal with a thigh injury that could deprive United of the French for the rest of February. There is a line of thinking that Van de Beek can thrive on or when Pogba leaves in the summer, which will give Solskjaer the leverage to reassign Van de Beek to the number 6 or no.
The warning is that Van de Beek only started three times in midfield for United.