Manchester United’s late collapse at Young Boys saw fans pointing the finger at Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and chaos on the Betfair markets. Max Liu has the lowdown…
Even with Cristiano Ronaldo in the side, you simply cannot trust Manchester United in Europe. That was the lesson as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men lost the first match of their Champions League campaign 2-1 to Young Boys in Switzerland.
United were backed at 1.141/7 on the Exchange when they were leading 1-0 thanks to Ronaldo’s first-half goal. More than £500k was matched on them at 1.21/5 or lower.
The turning point was the 35th minute red card for Aaron Wan-Bissaka. But United still made things difficult for themselves and much of the blame lies with their manager.
Solskjaer needn’t panic – he is as long as 33/1 in the Premier League manager sack race betting – and United are 1.865/6 to win Group F in which they will also play Villarreal and Atalanta.
But the manner of the defeat was concerning and adds to the sense that Solskjaer is out of his depth in the Champions League.
United have now lost seven Champions League matches under the Norwegian.
Last night’s defeat was their first continental action since their miserable Europa League final loss to Villarreal in May.
Young Boys were delirious at the final whistle but, from a United point of view, that only showed this was a match their opponents never expected to win.
United didn’t register a single shot in the second-half, as side featuring Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba displayed a debilitating lack of ambition. Solskjaer’s substitutions sent mixed signals as he threw on defensive players, such as Nemanja Matic and Diogo Dalot, then opted to introduce Anthony Martial late on.
Jesse Lingard’s awful backpass gifted the win to Young Boys but arguably the seeds of defeat were sewn by Solskjaer’s tactical ineptitude.
Last season, United failed to get out of their group and were knocked out on a night of calamity at RB Leipzig. Fans were hoping for much better this season but it’s no surprise to see the Red Devils out to 15.5 in the outright winner market following last night’s defeat.
On Sunday they travel to West Ham in the Premier League and you’ll be able to read an in-depth preview on Betting.Betfair.
Source: Betfair Champions League
