Donny van de Beek’s lack of starts for Manchester United continues. He has only been picked for the two Carabao Cup fixtures.
After he missed out against Newcastle United on Saturday, there was hope that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could be saving him for the Champions League game with PSG.
Wrong again. Van de Beek was back on the bench, and only came on in the 89th minute when the game was won.
You can’t argue with the result. United won 2-1. Solskjaer picked a team to win, and that’s exactly what the players did.
He will get his chance
This was arguably United’s toughest game of the Champions League group stages, and it was important to get off to a strong start.
Solskjaer wanted a known quantity, rather than picking Van de Beek, who ultimately needs to earn his trust.
The manager went with Fred and Scott McTominay in the centre, who have done it before away to PSG, and repeated their starring roles.
They both have an advantage over the Dutchman, because Solskjaer has seen them work together.
£39 million signing Van de Beek will eventually build up that trust. It’s just not quite there yet.
Even Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic could not get into United’s starting line up, despite being in their fifth and fourth seasons at the club respectively.
The change in formation to a 3-4-1-2 did not help Van de Beek either.
As captain for the night, Bruno Fernandes’ position was set in stone.
There had been suggestion Van de Beek could play out wide, in United’s usual 4-2-3-1 formation. But this role just wasn’t available in midweek.
Van de Beek could come into the side against Chelsea at the weekend. He has scored at Stamford Bridge before against Ajax.
If games against Chelsea, RB Leipzig and Arsenal don’t go Van de Beek’s way either, especially if United stick with a 3-4-1-2, then he should set his sights on the Istanbul Basaksehir matches.
United play the Turkish side in back to back group games in November, and Van de Beek should start both.
If he can perform well in those matches, that will be his chance to prove to Solskjaer that he should get the nod as a starter more regularly.
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