To the surprise of many, Donny van de Beek was allowed to show it from the kick-off at Manchester United on Tuesday evening in the away game against Young Boys in the Champions League. The midfielder could barely make his mark on the game and was taken off for Raphaël Varane halfway through by manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. United ended the game with ten men and lost 2-1 to the Swiss. The British media have mixed feelings about Van de Beek’s performance the day after the deception.
The red card from defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka was reason for Solskjaer to take Van de Beek off the side halfway through the game for Varane, who had to act as third central defender alongside Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof. “In the last five minutes of the first half, it looked like they were going to give a lot of crosses to our sixteen,” said the Norwegian coach. “We knew they were going to add a big striker, we had to respond to that.” The game changed completely in the second half, with the Young Boys securing the victory deep into injury time due to a blunder by Jesse Lingard.
Van de Beek’s performance was supported by Sky assessed with a 7 as a mark. “It was far from necessary for him to be substituted for Varane,” the accompanying text read. Manchester Evening News was also pleased with the performance of the Dutchman and awarded a 6 as a mark. “He showed well during his 16th starting spot for Man United,” said the modest verdict. It was Van de Beek’s first starting spot of the season. In the Premier League, the Dutchman has been brought in once so far by Solskjaer, last weekend against Newcastle United (4-1 win).
The Sun was anything but pleased with Van de Beek’s performance. “Now was the time to show Ole Gunnar Solskjaer what he can bring to a team brimming with elite talent and big stage superstars,” the tabloid newspaper wrote. “But if he’s shown anything, it’s that Solskjaer can do without him. Solskjaer will argue that his choice to substitute him was a tactical move, but he could have easily swapped an attacker instead of Van de Beek. , or fellow midfielder Fred.”
When a streaker entered the field in the second half, United fans saw their chance to level Van de Beek to the ground. “That streaker has now more minutes on the field than Van de Beek in the Premier League,” read a reaction on Twitter. Another: “He’s done more than Van de Beek tonight”, referring to the head-rolling streaker. Since his arrival in the summer of 2020, Van de Beek has played 38 times on behalf of United, in which he came to 1510 minutes in total. An average of forty minutes per performance, calculated statistics agency choose.
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