Dissecting the reasons why MU lost 0-2 to PSG at Old Trafford

The gap between MU and PSG is very clear despite Neymar and Cavani not being present in the French team's front line.

MU is inferior to PSG

The following figures may shock readers. MU launched 0 shots on target for PSG during the 90 minutes at Old Trafford. PSG directly threatened David de Gea 7 times, the French team had 54% possession and 5 corners.

This is MU's worst attacking statistic under Solskjaer in the past 2 months, and may even be MU's worst in its entire Champions League knockout history.

What led to that result? Where did MU, who have always caused damage to their opponents both in attack and counter-attack in the Premier League, end up? Before finding the answer, let's go to the comments of Gianluigi Buffon, PSG goalkeeper after the match withSky Sport Italy.

“We took risks, but United allowed us to push forward when we were under pressure, and PSG succeeded in those opportunities.”

Ole Solskjaer’s MU “allowing” opponents to advance is not something new this season. In theory, the moment the opponent transitions from defense to attack when they are allowed to advance is also the moment MU throws punches.

The ability to quickly close in on Ander Herrera or Paul Pogba, along with the increasingly tight connection between Pogba and Rashford, helped MU punish Tottenham, Newcastle, and Bournemouth. However, PSG is absolutely not an opponent that can be defeated by this predictable mindset.

Coach Thomas Tuchel not only struggled to endure MU's pressing in the first minutes, the French team was also ready to play with the skillful pressing escape skills of technicians like Marco Verratti, Dani Alves and especially Angel Di Maria.

This always helps PSG find space to ambush the “Red Devils” whenever the ball is passed behind the backs of attacking elements like Pogba, Lingard or Martial. MU, on the other hand, is not a team with enough technical ability to surpass PSG to be able to materialize the pressure.

SheetDaily Mailbelieve that MU looked at Liverpool's 3-2 victory over PSG in September to find a way to knock PSG down with great pressure. But PSG back then was different from now, and MU-Solskjaer is not Liverpool-Klopp to be able to maintain the ideal state of pressure like that throughout the match.

Unable to maintain the pressure, MU also did not have any solution to solve the problem named Kylian Mbappe on PSG's side. The terrifying speed of this young superstar defeated MU just as journalist Barney Roney of the newspaperThe Guardiandescribe.

In the goal that sealed the 2-0 score, Mbappe sneaked into a small space between Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof to finish past De Gea. Was Mbappe playing well, or was the MU central defenders playing poorly? The answer is both.

The end for the "Red Devils"

Rio Ferdinand said aboveSky Sportsthat the MU-PSG match was over after Paul Pogba received a second yellow card and had to leave the field after a silly collision with Dani Alves at the end of the match. Pogba's hot head was a typical image of MU in this match: powerless and lacking ideas.

Continuous victories in the Premier League and FA Cup did not immediately put MU on par with PSG in the Champions League. Ole Solskjaer could not immediately become a strategist of the same level as Thomas Tuchel after only 2 months in the hot seat at Old Trafford.

The positivity that Solskjaer created at Old Trafford is undeniable, but high-level football cannot be based on abstract factors. MU played with a somewhat reckless idea, PSG was a mistake in terms of ideas. And when they were behind, the "Red Devils" could not turn the game around when the quality of play was much weaker than the opponent due to the lack of technical foundation.

PSG beat Barca 4-0, but lost 1-6 in the return leg and were eliminated from the Champions League. But that was Barca and the Nou Camp. MU is not Barca, and just lost 0-2 at Old Trafford.

The door to advancing to the Champions League this season is almost closed for coach Solskjaer and his team.