admin Man Utd are struggling in the Champions League after losing 3-2 to Galatasaray at Old Trafford in another error-filled performance.
Wrong timing
United were the better team for three quarters of this game and still lost, but that’s what we’re used to this season.
It’s hard to escape the suggestion that some of their weaknesses are mental in origin and the way they conceded goals so easily in this defeat is another example. Not only that, but the very timing of these concessions was very costly.
United fell short as Rasmus Hojlund gave them the lead in both halves, but they allowed the visitors to equalize after six minutes in the first half and then four in the second. Those are the basics.
Erik ten Hag will wonder how his team lost this game, but they were too open in defense and individually not good enough to deal with the fires they needed to extinguish. If they had been ahead longer in this game they might have won, but that is proving to be a costly problem this season.
The start to Hojlund’s United career will come as no surprise to those at Old Trafford, he feels they have signed a rough diamond that needs to be polished by Ten Hag.
He has had quiet periods since joining the team and as United predicted, there will be matches where he is not at his best, or times when he has to leave the team.He did not fire against Crystal Palace this weekend.
But he progressed to the Champions League stages and after scoring at the Allianz Arena on matchday one, he posed a threat to Galatasaray’s defense at Old Trafford and scored the second goal for the club.
Hojlund prefaced United’s strong start, showing good skill in midfield to occupy the centre, then superior strength and pace to get past Sacha Boey and create a good chance for Bruno Fernandes .
He scored well in the first half and then showed the kind of possession play we’ve seen at times this season just after the break, protecting the ball before passing to the advancing Christian Eriksen.
However, Hojlund’s decisive moment came with his second goal.He was in the right position to take advantage of Davinson Sanchez’s slip, but showed pace and power to get past Abdulkerim Bardakci, then produced an audacious finish, sending the ball to Fernando Muslera with great effort. Calm and hard to stop. achieved at that time speed.
There will be times when Hojlund won’t fire this season but it’s clear United finally have a real striker. He looks like a phenomenal talent
The problem with Onana
According to statistics, Andre Onana was the best goalkeeper in the Champions League last season and his performance with his hands and feet against Manchester City in the final won him a contract for £47 million at Old Trafford.
Now he is probably the worst goalkeeper in the Champions League. Onana blamed himself for helping Bayern Munich score the opener in a 4-3 loss at the Allianz Arena two weeks ago and for playing poorly against Galatasaray.
His first mistake was with his feet, a weak pass towards Dries Mertens causing Casemiro to make a reckless tackle, conceding a penalty and receiving a second yellow card. Mauro Icardi missed the penalty kick but converted it immediately afterwards.
United were now open due to Casemiro’s absence and as Icardi charged towards goal, Onana fell too early, allowing the Italian to get the better of him.
The summer signing has now conceded 18 goals in nine games for United and questions are starting to be asked.
Defensive errors
The goals that twice equalized Galatasaray were the kind of goals that would make any club manager’s hair stand on end, so perhaps it would have been better if Ten Hag hadn’t had them.
As Sánchez advanced with the ball in the half-space, not much happened until Wilfried Zaha rounded Diogo Dalot. It was both a symbolic offer and a threat to end it, and Sanchez duly carried it out.
Somehow, the long ball found its way into the middle of United’s defense, with neither Raphael Varane nor Victor Lindelof having time to head it. He popped up twice with Dalot easily overpowered to an alarming degree.
Zaha drops back to right-back, letting the winger control the situation. Sanchez’s long ball only made contact when Zaha was 10 meters from the goal and made an acrobatic volley to the ground past Andre Onana. That’s the first one, it’s very basic, but it worked against United’s defence.
Dalot bears no small part of the responsibility. A more aggressive right-back with better defensive instincts would have prevented the problem in the first place and it wouldn’t be the first time Zaha has had his number.
The second one is perhaps even more basic. On a throw-in 15 meters from home, Galatasaray found the back of the net a few seconds later. It was simple, a fake, a pass over the line, then a run from Kerem Akturkoglu that saw Casemiro disappear in the rearview mirror.
Rashford’s decisions
Marcus Rashford’s decisions have been under the spotlight since the start of this season, with the striker feeling like he takes too many shots and has yet to develop a real relationship with Hojlund.
But Rashford made the right decision when he found himself in space on the right flank early in the game, only to make the mistake of being in the same position early in the second half.
Let’s start with the good: Casemiro’s ball flying over him found him in an acre of space, and when he headed the ball into space and into the box, you expected a shot. But Rashford looked up and saw Hojlund attacking his opponent in a good central position. The volleyed cross was excellent and the attacker controlled the header well and sent it into the net.
A similar ball sent him into the air in the second half, and Christian Eriksen’s pass took him into even more space for the first time. This time he could have shot, but he slowed down and waited for Bruno Fernandes to get to him.When he tried to square the ball and cross, he couldn’t hit the cross well enough and Sacha Boey cleared the ball.
You could argue that this time it was more about execution than decision making, but out From this perspective, shooting seemed like the best option. The television cameras immediately panned to the Ten Witches sitting limply in the shelter, with pained expressions on their faces that suggested they had seen them too many times this season. Rashford’s inconsistent form is one of the many reasons why the season has started slowly.
