On Tuesday, September 14th, Manchester United suffered a demoralizing defeat against BSC Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League group stage opener. 

In the first 15 minutes of the game it had looked like it was going to be a calm game for the Red Devils, and a second goal after Cristiano Ronaldo’s tap in was sure to come. But in the 33rd minute, Aaron Wan-Bissaka made a lunge for the ball and ended up striking the opponent’s legs leading to a red card. After the red card, they looked tired. They were bound to break. In the 66th minute they equalized, and in the last minute the American youngster, Theoson Siebatcheu, intercepted the ball from Jesse Lingard in his own third and slid the ball past David De Gea to win the game.

Fans all across the world teased “the rags” for the loss, mainly because before the game United fans acted like they were the kings of the soccer world. Manchester United have acquired, in their eyes, the best player of all time (Cristiano Ronaldo), the best defender in Europe (Raphael Varane), and the best youngster right now (Jadon Sancho). And to lose to Young Boys most likely would impede United fans from entering the main parts of Manchester for a while to save themselves from the mockery of Manchester City fans, who saw their squad beat RB Leipzig in their UCL game.

I asked Ronald Winfree, a freshman here at South Lakes who supports Man United, what he thought about the game.”Ole Gunnar Solskjær (The manager) has got to go man!…He cannot manage a superteam, we have Crisiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw, Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood, and Marcus Rashford, but we still cannot beat Young Boys!” This is not just recent criticism. Even though finishing 2nd in the 2020-21 Premier League season, many Manchester United fans think Solskjær is not a prime time manager, or a manager that will lead them to titles, as he has not won a single trophy since taking over for Jose Mourinho in March of 2019.

This game should not be viewed as a fluke, but once they win another game everyone will forget about it. Immediately after the game, there were rumors that Antonio Conte, who won the Serie A (Italian league) with Inter Milan last season, was willing to step in for Solskjær. Another player on the hot seat is Jadon Sancho, their second highest signing ever. Jadon was bought in the previous transfer market, and was expected to be a star, but has yet to record an assist or goal in 4 games as a Red Devil, and that performance did not silence the critics, as he got subbed off in the 37th minute. Fans are starting to wish that they had bought a holding midfielder like Declan Rice instead of Jadon Sancho. It may be just one game, but there is still a mountain of expectations for Manchester United, and it is looking unlikely that they will be fulfilled.