Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made five changes to his team for the FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea as he benched Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood.
According to former United midfielder Paul Ince, Solskjaer got his selection all wrong, as the bold decisions backfired for and went 3-0 down before Bruno Fernandes grabbed a consolation from the penalty spot.
Ince told Paddy Power: “Ole should have wanted to win silverware – his Chelsea team selection was a mess.
“From the off, when I saw the team Ole Gunnar Solksjaer selected, I wondered what he was playing at.
“I understand his preference is for the Champions League, and there’s a couple of big games coming up, but it just wasn’t right.
“This is the opportunity to win a trophy, for silverware, an FA Cup semi-final and that’s the team you’ve gone with?
“As I say, it’s a semi-final, so surely you play your front three, you play Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Anthony Martial, and you go full throttle at Chelsea rather than copping out.
“Ole will have a reason why he went with the team that he did, but I can’t say I’m surprised with the result after seeing the team, it was a mess.
“The front three are playing so well – so continue with that. I don’t see why he didn’t have the confidence to try and get something out of the game early with his best team, then maybe look to make changes to save energy for West Ham and Leicester.
“At Manchester United, you should never be shying away from winning silverware, and I thought Ole would know that.
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“You expect United to beat West Ham at home, so I would’ve thought you could’ve gone stronger against Chelsea in the cup. That was a great, wide open opportunity for a trophy, which was just been thrown away.”
This article was most recently revised and updated 4 years ago
