Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has praised the performances of Fred and Scott McTominay in Manchester United’s 2-1 win over PSG and says he wanted the duo to ‘lay the foundation’ for the side.
The Red Devils lined up with a back three formation in Paris on Tuesday night and took the lead through Bruno Fernandes from the penalty spot, who stepped up a second time after his first effort – which was saved – was ordered to be retaken after the goalkeeper left his line.
PSG were frustrated in the first half but improved after the restart and levelled the scores when Anthony Martial put the ball through his own net from a corner.
Solskjaer had another reshuffle to halt PSG’s growing momentum, reverting to a back four and bringing on Paul Pogba in place of Alex Telles.
The Frenchman was left out of the starting XI for the second straight game, having also been benched against Newcastle, but made a big impact in his cameo against PSG.
Pogba created more chances than any other player as United eventually grabbed a deserved winner through Marcus Rashford and while Solskjaer was delighted with his midfielder’s impact, he felt Fred and McTominay brought greater stability.
Asked for the reason behind the duo starting, Solskjaer explained: ‘They’re in good form now, they’re good players and they played really well against Newcastle.
‘They laid the foundations for the win in that game, and I think they laid the foundation today as well.
‘Scotty played the first half as well with only one eye, that was the most impressive thing, because he lost his contact lens. So that was impressive.’
On Pogba’s performance off the bench, Solskjaer added: ‘Maybe at 1-1 in the middle of the second half we started to be more confident, played [more football]. I think Paul Pogba came on and did really well for us and we created chances.’
Pogba missed United’s previous trip to Paris, when they famously won 3-1 to knock the French champions out of the Champions League, with Fred and McTominay having again performed brilliantly in that match too.
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