Paul Merson savages Man Utd with Man City comparison after Young Boys defeat

Paul Merson has criticised Manchester United for their 2-1 loss to Young Boys and believes Manchester City would have seen out the match from the same position.

United crashed to a surprise defeat in their Champions League Group F opener, despite taking an early lead through Cristiano Ronaldo.

A straight red card for defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka just before half-time flipped the game on its head and forced the Red Devils onto the back foot in the second half.

Their resistance lasted until the 66th minute when Moumi Ngamaleu equalised for the hosts before Theoson Siebatcheu grabbed a 95th minute winner after capitalising on an error from Jesse Lingard.

The performance and the result were a surprise to some – but not Merson.

He believes Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side are yet to leave the starting blocks this season, despite sitting atop the Premier League table after four matches.

"Manchester United haven’t got going. Against Wolves, they were very fortunate. Against Newcastle when it was 1-1, it was a heads-or-tails game. It could have easily gone Newcastle’s way," the former Arsenal star told Sky Sports.

"Champions League football is hard and it doesn’t matter who you are playing. For Young Boys, this is their biggest game ever. And if you don’t match that, you are in trouble.

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"This isn’t the biggest shock to me."

Merson also believes had Manchester City found themselves in a similar situation, defending a lead a man down, they would have been able to hold out and get the result.

"Manchester United couldn’t get out of their half. If that was Manchester City with ten men, Young Boys wouldn’t have touched the ball," he claimed.

United's defeat, coupled with a 2-2 draw between Villarreal and Atalanta, leaves Solskjaer's side bottom of Group F.

The Norwegian isn't worrying, however, and has set his sights on winning four of their remaining five group stage matches.

"You need 10, maybe 12, points, you need to win your home games, win one away from home," Solskjaer told the BBC.

"We know we've given ourselves a more difficult task than what we did last year but everyone thought we were through after two games last year," he added.

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