Pretty much no one saw this one coming- Manchester United fell at Young Boys 2-1 in UEFA Champions League group stage play. The manner in which it occurred was especially heart-breaking and demoralizing too.
Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring, early, and it looked like the visitors were going to cruise, until United right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka drew a straight red card and with that changed the complexion of the game. Have a look below and judge for yourself if this was worthy of a red:
Aaron Wan-Bissaka is sent off for this challenge ? pic.twitter.com/gWX8FWYBRr
— CBS Sports Golazo ?? (@CBSSportsGolazo) September 14, 2021
That’s probably only just a yellow in most leagues, but what happened happened, and eventually the Swiss side equalized. While AWB was scapegoated, by many United supporters, it’s really Jesse Lingard who is the recipient of the finger pointing right now.
He came on the in the 72′, for Ronaldo, and basically assisted USA international Jordan Pefok for the game winner, deep into Fergie Time. Make my funk the Pefok, I wants to get funked up. And we said he assisted, seriously take a look:
https://twitter.com/BanterFC5/status/1437861651605299205
Yikes! This was basically a moment of Wan-Bissaka being like “this loss is going to be all my fault,” and Lingard stating “hold my beer.”
Of course a lot of United supporters are blaming manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for what happened today, and he’s not without fault either. He’s taking his fair share of heat right now.
Just the concept of subbing Lingard in and Ronaldo out sound bad enough on its face, but he made other gaffes too, especially with his substitution decisions.
At the end of the day though, the Lingard and Wan-Bissaka howlers are not his fault. While his strategy left something to be desired, you can’t pin this one on the Norwegian.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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