[ad_pod ]
Jose Mourinho has slammed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s tactics away at Barcelona.
Manchester United were not only beaten at the Camp Nou on Tuesday, they were swatted aside like an insect on a hot summer’s day.
The Red Devils surrendered an early 2-0 lead after Lionel Messi caught them napping twice, and Philippe Coutinho was afforded way too much space to smash home the third in the second half.
And Mourinho, who was fired by the Old Trafford outfit in December, is not impressed by the way Solskjaer set his team up.
What did he say?
“I think the United approach was different (in the second leg),” he told Russia Today.
“Man Utd in the first match, zonally, they occupied that central zone very well. So when he (Messi) was coming inside he was finding Fred, McTominay coming to the inside all the time.
Who is your club’s worst ever January signing? The Pl>ymaker FC squad have picked theirs in the video below and they didn’t disappoint…
“In this match, maybe because Man Utd was losing 1-0 from the first match, they tried to start with a different perspective.
“Then it was Pogba wide on the left, McTominay much more on the right, Jesse Lingard playing as a 10 behind the striker.
“In front of the defensive line was only Fred. That’s the area when Messi comes, where Messi gets the ball.
“And when Messi has the ball one on one, you are dead. That’s why I never I like the individual man to man against Messi. Messi is a cage, you have to create a cage.”
Nailed it
While Ashley Young’s ridiculous excuse for defending didn’t help, Mourinho has correctly exposed a flaw in the way Solskjaer set up in Catalonia.
Messi scored twice from the area between midfield and defence at the edge of the box, the exact area Mourinho says you must not let the little Argentine into.
In truth, this was an avoidable mistake for Solskjaer as well, as Fred and McTominay were arguably his best players in the first leg.
Therefore, it makes absolutely no sense to switch things up and move them into positions in which they are uncomfortable.
Putting personal feelings aside, Mourinho has absolutely nailed it on this occasion.