It was a dull and boring stalemate between Premier League sides, Manchester United and Chelsea on Saturday.
Though Chelsea had majority of the possession in the game, they failed to make anything of it. On the other hand, Manchester United had seven shots and couldn’t convert any of them.
The controversial VAR decisions made life more difficult for both the managers at the end of 90 minutes. Soon after the game, the pundits jumped to criticize Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with Patrice Evra being more vocal than others.
Solskjaer started the game with the trio of Bruno Fernandes, Fred Rodrigues, and Scott McTominay. The consistent and high work-rate of Fred and Scott McTominay against Newcastle United and Paris St Germain affirmed their start ahead of Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic in the midfield on Saturday past.
Pogba was brought on as a substitute alongside Edinson Cavani, replacing Juan Mata and Daniel James just after the hour mark. The question arose regarding Ole’s third substitution which saw Mason Greenwood coming on for Scott McTominay.
Few opined Donny van de Beek should have got the nod ahead of others in the midfield. Patrice Evra even went on to question the signing of Donny van de Beek.
Talking on Sky Sports, he said:
"We’re talking about Van de Beek… why did we buy him? I have nothing against the kid, but why did we buy Van de Beek? ‘He’s watching the game from the stands every game because we don’t need him. That’s the truth, but people will not say it loud."
It is not the first time Patrice Evra has voiced his opinion regarding the club or a player in the Manchester squad.
After the 6-1 thrashing against Tottenham Hotspur, Evra went onto say:
"No one, no one deserves to be playing for this team right now."
Although it was a catastrophic performance, there will always be an off-day for the United players. Even the greatest manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson faced a 6-1 defeat to Manchester City in 2011.
Evra was part of the side that endured this embarrassing defeat. Instead of supporting his old club and providing mental support to the players, he’d rather criticize them which is a poor move.