The stoppage following the head-on clash between Issa Diop and Anthony Martial provided Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with time for a one-on-one training session with Donny van de Beek. Solskjaer was excited and seemed to demand more urgency. Michael Carrick also approached. Whatever the message, it was not transmitted.
Van de Beek was replaced against West Ham at the interval of the Premier League game two months ago and lasted longer on Tuesday night, at least. This was an even more punishing night for the 23-year-old in his brief career at Manchester United than at the London Stadium on December 5, still his last league start.
From the first moments, Van de Beek was unbalanced with his teammates and Carrick had to pin him on the leash for escaping the right side. Van de Beek politely advised Fred to go faster at the beginning of the first half, but in the end he didn’t care about Mason Greenwood when the frustration increased.
Viewers did not have to wait for ’34’ to flash on the board to know that Van de Beek’s number had increased when Solskjaer finally summoned Bruno Fernandes in the 72nd minute. Van de Beek, 23, has the misfortune to be compared to the phenomenal Fernandes due to his status as an ace, and Solskjaer will have to change tactics with the important acquisition of United in the summer.
Van de Beek would have done better in one of the midfield roles occupied by Fred and Nemanja Matic. This was very cautious and Solskjaer acknowledged this by outwitting Matic for scorer Scott McTominay, while Van de Beek led the way. The winner with a McTominay rifle scored his seventh goal in the campaign. Van de Beek is still in one.
In September, October and November, was it a case of why Solskjaer is not playing Van de Beek? In December, January and now February, why would Solskjaer play Van de Beek? This is some change and comparisons with Henrikh Mkhitaryan are redundant. Mkhitaryan took three months to start.
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“I thought Donny and we played very well in the first half,” said Solskjaer. “We created spaces, there were one or two where he was part of that. He did his job clean and tidy, had a half chance when Alex [Telles] pulled back to him.
“Of course, in the second half the whole team dropped a little bit and we just wanted to make some changes.”
Van de Beek’s call coincided with the start of Paul Pogba’s dismissal, with a thigh injury that could deprive United of the Frenchman until the end of February. There is a school of thought that Van de Beek could thrive if or when Pogba leaves in the summer, which would give Solskjaer the advantage to transfer Van de Beek to the number 6 or 8 role in which Pogba primarily plays.
The caveat is that Van de Beek started in midfield only three times for United.