Former Manchester United defender Paul Parker says that Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane must start the club’s next game at Wolverhampton Wanderers next Sunday, or manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer runs the risk of inviting more pressure on himself.
Neither player started yesterday’s game at Southampton, with Sancho coming on for half an hour and putting in an ineffectual shift in a disjointed side. United drew 1-1, a disappointing result and performance, with Solskjaer making substitutes which appeared to be rectifying poor decisions from the starting line-up.
The result was an early setback as supporters were hoping that those sorts of hiccups would be eliminated for a title challenge to be possible this season.
Parker, talking exclusively on this week’s Talking Devils podcast, believes that Solskjaer invited it with his selection, and says that the manager should make some bold selection changes at Molineux next weekend.
“Without a doubt he has to start Varane and Sancho,” Parker said. “You sign players like that and you want to lift your players and say ‘look at this’. You want to lift the fans as well. People want to see them from the start.”
Parker referenced the arrival of Roy Keane as an example, whilst going on to explain how excited Varane must have been at the sight of United’s vocal away support.
“We signed Roy Keane in 1993 after winning the league, people were wondering if he would take Bryan Robson’s place, but bang, Roy was in straight away. There was no feeling his way in.”
“Varane must have seen those away fans yesterday and been blown away. Spain’s biggest clubs don’t get away support like United fans. He must have been craving to be a part of it. That’s the lift those supporters give you. He has to play. If he doesn’t start them, then he’s going to be putting himself under a little more pressure, especially if they get overrun at the back and don’t get a result. You can’t have a player sitting there with that CV and not have him on the park.”
On the game at Molineux, Parker says he feels Wolves have been unlucky so far this season.
“Spurs got away with it, it was incredible what Wolves did to them, but they just didn’t get the rub of the green,” he said. “They’ve got Jimenez now, they missed him a hell of a lot last season and he will be a threat.”
You can watch the podcast on the link above and listen on all major podcast providers later today.