Former Man United defender and SkySports pundit Gary Neville ruefully reflected on a missed opportunity by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side vs Leicester in the FA Cup.
Neville questioned Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s decision to make numerous changes to the Manchester United starting line-up against Leicester which saw United falling to a 3-1 defeat and crashing out of the FA Cup.
United started bereft of the services of two of their best players this season in their defeat to the Foxes, with Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw both left on the bench until the hour mark. Donny van de Beek, Nemanja Matic and Alex Telles were among the surprise starters for United against Leicester.
A disparate Solkjaer side were clearly outclassed in the 3-1 loss at the King Power Stadium and Neville attributes the loss to the rotation of the United side, something he believes is Solkjaer’s fault.
The former Old Trafford favourite reflected on a good week that ended on a sour note with the FA Cup exit.
“Been a good week, not surprising they go to Milan and do what they did because they are good away from home,” he said on his Gary Neville podcast with Sky Sports.
“Beating West Ham last week, and then I’m surprised that the team has been rotated so much.
“I know he has been doing that, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but this was a real chance. You think about the semi final draw that occurred at half time in that game, which meant the winner played Southampton.”
Neville is adamant United could have laid a marker down to their rivals with progression to the FA Cup final, where they they could have ended up facing Manchester City.
He added:
“It’s not a gimme against Southampton in the semi final by any stretch of the imagination but what an opportunity. And I do believe that group of players need to win a trophy under Solskjaer.
“Yes, of course, finishing second would be the priority at the start of the season and winning a trophy will now be the priority with that, they only have the Europa League left but that was a real good one today.
“They have a decent record at Leicester and I was in the car listening to the game, get back from behind and think ‘here we go’ not surprised with United away from home — but then that second and third goes in and it’s a massive missed opportunity.
“I am demoralised a little bit tonight as a United fan because I do feel that was a really good one to go for this season.
“And if you want to catch Manchester City, you’ve got to beat them. Got to beat them in the big game and a big competition.
“You can’t rely on other teams to stop them if you are the second best team in the country. If you have a half decent record against City, which United under Solskjaer have, then you’ve got to be the ones to stop them.”