Manchester United’s defeat to Young Boys was widely seen as a result of a calamity of tactical failures by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The MEN criticised his ‘tactical naivety’ while The Times described his shift in formation as a ‘blunder’.
On this very website we looked at five decisions Solskjaer may have got wrong on the night in the 2-1 loss.
But it is always interesting to hear a different viewpoint, which also does not focus on Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s red card or Jesse Lingard’s awful backpass.
Young Boys defender Sandro Lauper spoke to UEFA after the game and he was complimentary about Solskjaer’s tactical choices.
Rather than talk about how they benefitted his side, Lauper insisted Solskjaer’s changes actually made it tougher for Young Boys.
He added that it was changes from Young Boys themselves which swung the game in their favour.
Lauper said: “They played with five defenders in the second half which made things difficult for us.
“You have to force the issue and in the end we got our just rewards.
“It’s hard to keep your concentration for 90 minutes against a team with so much quality.
“We played well from the moment we fell behind. The red card played into our hands, but we did well. We changed things tactically and went with two up top. That helped us and gave us a boost.”
Do Young Boys deserve credit?
There has been so much talk about United losing this game there has barely been a word said about Young Boys winning it.
The Swiss side played well and managed to break United’s resilience to score a vital equaliser midway through the second half.
A report from Swiss outlet SRF quoted winger Christian Fassnacht recounting a conversation he had with manager David Wagner late in the game.
Fassnacht said: “The coach asked me in the 80th: ‘Fassi, do we want to play to win?’ And I said: ‘Yes! Let’s throw everything forward.”
Young Boys got their reward, with substitute Jordan Siabatcheu gambling on and taking advantage of Jesse Lingard’s late backpass to score with just his 13th touch of the ball.
The inquest into Manchester United’s loss will go on, and Solskjaer could face a few tricky questions at his press conference today (Thursday) which takes place a 2.30pm
But it is worth bearing in mind also that Young Boys and their boss David Wagner deserve credit too, for the way they went about the match and made life very difficult for United from the 36th minute onwards.
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