Manchester United self-destruct in the Champions League to keep things exciting - The Warm-Up
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Updated 03/12/2020 at 11:45 GMT
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's wasteful Manchester United aren't through to the Champions League knock-out stages yet: they now face a straight shootout with RB Leipzig. And Olivier Giroud reminds the world that he's pretty good at football when he gets the chance at Chelsea after scoring four goals against Sevilla.
Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United looks dejected during the UEFA Champions League Group H stage match between Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain at Old Trafford
Image credit: Getty Images
THURSDAY'S BIG STORIES
Seeing Fred
There are few truly certain things in this world: death, taxes, Marcus Rashford scoring against PSG. But the moment that Fred got away with a Footballer's Headbutt — more of a nuzzle, if we're being honest — he should have been substituted. The impending second yellow was visible from space.
So, board up before the first card was down. Thanks very much Fred, off you go, get showered and changed and out of the stadium before the referee realises what's happened. Of course, this would have left United with just four substitutes for the rest of the game. Better safe than — oops.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, nice chap that he is, later defended his errant midfielder:
Fred has played really well. We spoke about staying calm, staying on your feet, and the second yellow card is nowhere near a foul … I thought Fred kept his head cool exceptionally well second half. He was unlucky with that decision by the referee. You can say in hindsight, to have 11 men, of course that would have been better, but who's to say?
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Solskjaer refuses to criticise Fred after red card for United
Well, Ole, we are. And everybody else is. Nobody lives on borrowed time forever, and defensive midfielders least of all. And hey, even if it wasn't a foul, it didn't look much like staying on his feet either.
But history shouldn't record this weird loss as being entirely down to one midfielder's poor decisions, or those of his manager. No, United's finishing was highly wasteful as well. Anthony Martial's ongoing argument with his own talent continues to puzzle and vex, and Edinson Cavani just didn't put quite enough narrative on that perfect, perfect, not-quite-perfect chip.
On balance, United created the better chances and were the dominant team for good, long stretches. It might be better to lose having played well than to get thumped: that suggests that the team is basically sound, and Solskjaer has plenty of positives. But it is also, somehow, significantly more irritating, even for a neutral. You had it, lads. And … and you dropped it all over the floor.
Match Ball
If you'd told a young İrfan Kahveci that one day he'd take a place in history alongside Ronaldo — the fun one — and Gareth Bale, he'd probably have said: "Who the hell are you? Some kind of time traveller? Get out of my house." But in Turkish.
But yesterday he stepped into some exalted company. Like Ronaldo, like Bale, Kahveci scored a hat-trick in the Champions League … and lost the game.
Hopefully he goes on to win the World Cup or score an overhead kick in the Champions League final. He scored high on quality, too: three clipped shots from the edge of the area, all beyond the keeper's despairing dive. A lovely story for the grandkids, as long as they don't ask any searching follow-up questions, like "And what was your defence up to, while all this was happening?"
They were setting the group up nicely, that's what they were doing. Last night's victories for Leipzig and PSG leave them alongside United on nine points at the top of Group H. Any of them could win the group; any of them could drop into the Europa League. The next round of games is going to be huge for fans of "as it stands" tables and, let's be honest, that's all of you.
And if Leipzig beat United and PSG pick up at least a point, then it will be a big, big day for anybody that enjoys laughing at Manchester United. Which is, let's be honest again, most of you. That goal where they forgot to leave anybody downfield could yet decide the group.
Four Goals, Olivier? Four?
While we're on the subject of unusual hat-tricks, let's spend some time with Olivier Giroud. Chelsea's occasional striker didn't quite manage the yardage of Kahveci's efforts, but this was a proper striker's hat trick, built from clever runs into pockets of space and precisely angled finishing. And then a penalty, just to rub things in.
You can see why Giroud might want to move in January: he certainly doesn't look a footballer ready to start winding down. There's a Euros coming. And you can see why Arsenal, just to pick a team entirely at random, might be keen to get him back. If you're going to put in cross after cross after cross …
But you know, this might not be a bad season to be playing mostly as a substitute. There should be plenty of minutes available, what with the congested schedule and all, and there has to be a real chance that anybody playing regularly now ends up utterly broken come the summer. Also N'Golo Kanté now crosses like David Beckham, apparently. Worth sticking around for that.
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Lampard 'delighted' for Giroud, 'will warn players'
IN OTHER NEWS
Look! Fans! In an English football stadium!
RETRO CORNER
Happy birthday to Frank Sinclair: a great scorer of own goals, a scorer of great own goals. Like this one. Poor Ian Walker, he never stood a chance.
HAT TIP
We're heading over to the Athletic today, where the excellent and educational Jack Lang is waiting to tell us all about Miguel Ángel Ramírez. Who? Why, only the manager of Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle, who are making all kinds of noise in South America.
You almost certainly haven’t heard of Miguel Angel Ramirez. He is 36 and has never played the game at any significant level. His most high-profile position in European football to date was as an academy coach at Las Palmas, his hometown club in the Canary Islands. He is only a couple of years into a managerial career that he stumbled into by accident. He is also the most exciting young coach in South America.
COMING UP
Arsenal take on Rapid Vienna in the Europa League, as Mikel Arteta continues his search for the promised land: they'll get to 34 crosses, just you wait and see. Also, fresh from their shock defeat to Ross County, Celtic are off to visit Serie A leaders AC Milan. Just what Neil Lennon ordered.
Fun fact: Tom Adams once put in 35 crosses in a game. And he'll tell you all about it in tomorrow's Warm-Up.
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