I was surprised by both:
- the atmosphere on RedCafe in the last years with a great tendency to be overly pessimistic/gloomy about the future and the ability of the team/club to improve and have better results while United is simply the wealthiest club in the world and one of the top 5 most iconic clubs in the world
- your very recent overconfidence "United will win 3-0" in the sense that PSG had been capable to beat Liverpool at home and lost away there because (1) Verratti was injured and (2) PSG was so overconfident at Anfield that they had forgotten the fundamentals (all the players have to defend and contribute to the pressing). That said,
your optimism was very understandable given (1) your recent performances since Ole took over the club and (2) the injuries at PSG (3) the poor quality of the French league (only Lyon and Monaco in a previous life know some stuff about football)
Regarding the game, my understanding is:
- United players were
unconsciously overly confident like fans given the context exposed above...while PSG players had to work harder than ever because they couldn't rely on magic Neymar
-
United was more tired than PSG, which is explained by (1) a PSG side who is already domestic champions since several months (2) you team under pressure in the last months made an impressive come back recently (3) some PSG players who are mentally and/or physically fresh and didn't play so much this season for diverse reasons like Draxler, Dani Alves (4) in the last games, several starters at PSG were on the bench to rest while your players were at 100%. Conclusion: you started the game very well but rapidly decline in terms of work-rate. Also, England is generally disappointing at the Internationale tournaments for very different reasons, one of these being the lack of a winter break IMO
- Without Neymar and Cavani,
that PSG team was more possession-based than ever. Neymar always takes risks and Cavani is a player to finish chances not to contribute to the possession. In this context, Di Maria and Draxler are on the pitch and the team might be viewed as a kind of 3-6-1. Also, PSG is happy to rely on a deep-lying playmaker like Verratti while a player like Xabi Alonso instead of Matic would have been wonderful in another life.
- On the the other hand,
you team is more suited to counter-attack. Martial (like M'bappé generally) is a striker deployed on the wing, same for Lingard in a certain sense (say he's a forward). If your players are tired or injured, you need a plan B and some players to calm down.
-
You have only one clear leader (Pogba) while the ideal would have been at least to have 2 great leaders. Tactically, the priority of Tuchel was to neutralize and Marquinhos did the job, discovering a new role this season and improving very quickly. Against Liverpool away, Marquinhos suffered. You are overly reliant on Paul.
-
PSG is more experienced (1) PSG played against Real Madrid/Barcelona several times in the last seasons (2) For example, Di Maria scored more goals in Champions League than your starting 11 on aggregate (3) Thiago Silva & Verratti joined the club in 2012, Marquinhos 2013, Kimpembe part of the squad since 2014. So, the PSG team has a solid shared experience.
-
Di Maria made the game of his life. He doesn't play with the same appetite/hunger every week and even with the national squad. He seemed to be more excited to play against United than France in a World Cup...
All in all, the issue is not your defence but the
lack of another leader on the pitch to support Pogba: in other words, Pogba can't do everything alone.
I hope you will:
- Take Rabiot next summer to give Ole more options: a gamble I would take without hesitation
- Take a player with superior passing skills (advanced or deep-lying playmaker). Mata and Herrera have to be upgraded.
- Take a super star if available on the market
You don't need to buy 25 players,
keep Ole and just take 2-3 guys next summer and you will be in a position to compete with Barcelona, Real Madrid & co