A coach with lots of excuses, an angry mob of fans on Twitter and an unhappy star player. That’s the aftermath of the unexpected Manchester United defeat from Aston Villa at Old Trafford. Coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the man under pressure to deliver this season, blamed VAR for the winning goal, as he forgot that his team didn’t scored a single goal in this match. United fans demanded on social media that Cristiano Ronaldo should take penalties instead of his Portuguese teammate Bruno Fernandes. United now have a Champions League defeat to Young Boys, Carabao Cup exit to West Ham and a defeat at home to Villa, with injuries to both Shaw and Maguire. And it’s only September. Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Manchester United• Lose at Young Boys• Win at West Ham after last-minute penalty miss• Lose at home to West Ham• Lose at home to Aston VillaSeven wins, one clean sheet in their last 16 matches.‘It’s passion. It’s desire.’https://t.co/1VQGaxyU09 https://t.co/uyeMYvsvNP— Duncan Castles (@DuncanCastles) September 25, 2021 The pressure is piling up on Solskjaer, who is perceived by many to be the only thing which is missing for a genuine Premier League push. And the Norwegian was more critical of referees than of his players. „Decision making on VAR cost us again, unfortunately. The goal is offside, as Hause heads it Watkins is actually touching David De Gea so he is impeding with him. I can’t see the consistency anywhere with the VAR and the decision-making. They came out in the corridor and I asked them for an explanation. The linesman he flagged it up with the VAR and definitely the VAR has gone wrong again” he told MUTV at full-time.United’s coach also had issues with Villa players before Bruno Fernandes took the ball and missed, and he thought that they ’crowded Bruno and the referee’. What’s even funnier is that Villa keeper Martinez actually wanted Ronaldo to take the penalty and was telling him to do so, until his Argentinian teammate Cavani pushed him back to the goal post.
And Ronaldo’s reaction at the penalty miss and a loss was also telling: The Portuguese offered a pat at back to Fernandes and was the first player to leave the pitch and go to the tunnel. The tense atmosphere inside Old Trafford was very visible, as the fans want a Premier League push now, when Ronaldo came back to the club. The Villa defeat is not an acceptable scenario for them.