Man Utd crashed out of Champions league and Europa: With over more than 10 losses so far, what’s to be made of Man United’s disastrous season?
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The culmination of the previous season following the departure of the all time great, Cristiano Ronaldo pointed to a promising progress in store. This excitement found more shape with marquee signings in the summer such as Andre Onana, Mason Mount and Rasmus Højlund. Further additions such as Sergio Reguilon and Sofyan Amrabat were thought to provide further stability to the lineup.
The result? An outright debacle as they continue to habitually drop points in the Premier League and crash out of Europe – finishing rock bottom of their group. They weren’t drawn against easy teams, Bayern are favorites to win the UCL, Galatasaray looked menacing with their summer signings and a young Copenhagen side had it all to trigger an upset. But surely none of us saw United finishing fourth, did we?
Man Utd crashed out of Champions league and Europa: Man United 0-1 Bayern
“We are able to beat any opponent. Tomorrow we have to win — I’m sure we can do it, we have energy”.
“Old Trafford is not a nice play at all to come for any opponent… as long as I’m here we’re here together”.
“The games against Chelsea and Everton — even the one against Galatasaray show that this team can perform at really high levels… we are very good”.
The Dutch manager looked very confident going into the game against the German powerhouse – claiming that Old Trafford, the Theater of Dreams, could also perhaps be the Reviver of Dreams. However, it couldn’t be further from the truth as the men in red got run over by the Bavarians. The scoreline may give the impression that it was a hard fought game but the statistics say otherwise.
Bayern kept 60% of the possession and had registered 10 shots, compared to United’s 5 – which is simply unacceptable for a team looking to score goals. The Red Devils created a staggering ‘zero’ big chances in the game and 4 out of their 5 shots came outside of the box – the Bayern defense deserves some love for their incredible compactness at the back.
The Blame Game
Who takes accountability of the current season of woes and wails? Some may point to Erik Ten Hag’s ineffective management, some may point to Andre Onana’s casual goalkeeping, others might blame the long list of injuries whereas few might even blame the owners, The Glazers for being stone-hard adamant in their negotiation with the Qatari bidders, Sheikh Jassem and his delegation. However, it seems that a good mix of all these factors have led to United’s catastrophic start.
Erik Ten Hag has made some questionable decisions with regards to his team management and in-game substitutions. Andre Onana has cost Man United points on several occasions, especially in the game against Galatasaray, where his mistakes gifted the Turkish side two goals. Furthermore, injuries have impeded Man United from being at their best, must-haves in the lineup such as Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro, Mason Mount and Eriksen are all sidelined. The turbulent environment in the offices might have disturbed the players and the staff alike as it wasn’t too long ago where the feeling around Old Trafford pointed to a change in ownership.
It must also be mentioned that United’s front line has been simply abysmal in front of goal. In the Premier League, they’ve only scored 18 goals, which is one more than Luton Town’s 17, who sit in the relegation zone at the time of publication. While they’ve been doing well in terms of scoring goals in the Champions League, they’ve also had a problem with conceding a lot of them, which brings us to their defense. They’ve conceded 15 goals in the 6 games they played which is the joint-worst alongside Royal Antwerp.
Is There Still Hope For Man United?
In football, there are countless possibilities. Upsets and glory usually sit simultaneously with each other. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to be of those who believe that the Red Devils can still turn their season around. As laughable as it may sound, we must realize that they are being held back from using their strongest lineup by their long list of injuries.
Perhaps once they’ve paired all their expensive toys together is when we’ll see a turn around?
