Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has explained his surprise decision to take Bruno Fernandes off late in yesterday’s game against Liverpool.
The Red Devils arguably missed an opportunity at Anfield in yesterday’s 0-0 draw, with Solskjaer’s side perhaps the slightly better team in terms of chance creation on the night.
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Solskjaer perhaps didn’t do his side any favours by subbing star player Fernandes off, but the Norwegian tactician insists this was a tactical decision to give his team something different in attack.
Explaining the move after the game, as quoted by the Metro, Solskjaer said: “It was a tactical decision. Bruno has obviously been running his socks off for us every single game since he’s come. He’s been here and been running more or less every game.
“So towards the end we felt Paul [Pogba]’s physical presence in there might be a chance for us. And Mason [Greenwood], when he gets a chance he can score in the blink of a second.
“So it was a bit of a throw of the dice to get Mason on even though he had to defend against [Andy] Robertson.”
We’re not sure Man Utd fans will be entirely convinced by this, with Fernandes so often proving the difference-maker for the club since he joined from Sporting Lisbon last January.
The Portugal international has the quality to change a game in a split second, and even if he wasn’t at his best yesterday, he’s someone the team probably could’ve done with having on the pitch in the last few minutes.