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Tuesday night sees a chance for revenge for Manchester United when they host Istanbul Basaksehir in the Champions League.
In the reverse Group H match on November 4, United suffered a regrettable 2-1 defeat in Turkey thanks to goals from Demba Ba and Edin Visca.
The result took a toll on the Red Devils’ knockout qualifying hopes, but it was the shameful defense in the lead-up to Ba’s goal in particular that prompted a wave of fierce criticism leveled at Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his men.
So what can the manager do to prevent another result and social media reaction from repeating?
Eliminate Sunday League mistakes
Let’s start with the obvious one: the dire defense. The way United conceded both goals against their Turkish opponents was unforgivable, especially the first one for Ba’s goal.
Paul Scholes likened it to ‘under 10 football’. Rio Ferdinand claimed that “you wouldn’t see this on Hackney Marshes.” Robin van Persie did not remember that any team had conceded such a bad goal.
All three are United greats who won trophies with the club. His damning criticism of Ba’s starter says it all.
It was inconceivable to let the 35-year-old enter unopposed from inside his own field before beating Dean Henderson. Most worrisome was that he came out of a United corner in the 13th minute of the game.
How there was not an iota of soccer intelligence on the Red Devils part at the time remains puzzling, without a player on Ba’s goal side. All 10 outfield players were in the last third of Basaksehir – mind blowing. Digging deeper, it seemed that no one on the United bench pointed out this glaring mistake on the wing before Ba was also played on goal.
The second goal was almost as bad as Juan Mata lost possession after a poor pass from Bruno Fernandes allowed local Deniz Turuc to run clear before launching a cross. United’s defense was again a disaster as Visca conceded unmarked at the back post, with all the visitors sucked into the near side.
Solskjaer would have shown his players this horror show and told them that this was unacceptable. This is a game United cannot afford to lose, so expect much more robustness in this area.
Get off the blocks fast
United was heavy and slow in Turkey and this has been a microcosm of their season. Solskjaer’s team often starts games too passively, allowing their opponents to get ahead early and play a vim that the Red Devils often lack.
This was the case three weeks ago when the warning signs were there for United before Ba’s goal. And the moment the Super Lig team took the lead, it looked like it was going to be a long night for United, something that became.
Basaksehir was happy to sit deep and counterattack at United, who failed to move their opponents with any incisive pattern of play.
Moving the ball fast and on time is in the Red Devils’ DNA, so it will be interesting to see if they can do it at Old Trafford. Against West Brom at the weekend that was not the case and they were lucky to come out of that Premier League encounter with a win.
Tick Bruno Fernandes
When Bruno Fernandes prospers, so does Manchester United. However, in Turkey that was not the case, as the Portuguese playmaker was below average for once.
At Fatih Terim Stadium, he lost possession 34 times, which means he did so more than once every three minutes.
Fernandes’s pass completed was 72 percent, the lowest for United along with Anthony Martial, while only 63.5 percent of his balls in the final third went to the intended goal, highlighting his frustrating display.
Additionally, this was further emphasized by the fact that he was unable to create a single shot in the entire game, only completing seven of his 14 long passes and not completing a six-shot snap.
United had reason to worry about his ball retention last summer before deciding to sign him in January, a move that has worked tremendously for the club as the 26-year-old brought much-needed creativity to the flank and reinvigorated their attack.
Sometimes you have a day off and the Old Trafford team hopes it’s just that for Fernandes. Since then, he has scored three of United’s four Premier League goals (twice in the 3-1 win at Everton and the winner in the 1-0 win over West Brom) and has also provided the assist to the other.
Anthony Martial or Edinson Cavani?
He was the club’s top scorer last season, but so far finding the back of the net has been a struggle for Martial this season.
The 24-year-old scored 23 goals last season but has only scored twice so far, both in the Champions League against RB Leipzig and Istanbul Basaksehir, the latter a good header to cut the deficit in half.
A three-game ban, following his red card against Tottenham, has not helped the Frenchman’s cause, but has fallen short of previous standards.
Martial is looking to become the first Manchester United player to score in three consecutive UEFA Champions League appearances since Wayne Rooney in March 2010, but the question is, will he get a chance to do so on Tuesday?
Waiting behind the scenes is the summer signing of Edinson Cavani, who joined as a free agent on the day of the deadline. The 33-year-old has yet to start a game for the Red Devils, but has come off the bench six times. He was hired as an alternative to Martial and his crafty move in the box could pose a different kind of problem for Istanbul than they faced earlier this month.
Like Donny van de Beek’s much-talked-about situation, Solskjaer will soon have to give Cavani starting opportunities and Tuesday’s game could be the perfect match for that. His movement aside, the Uruguayan provides a goal up front that United have lacked since Romelu Lukaku’s departure.
Either way, Solskjaer has left the gauntlet to Martial moving forward.
“Anthony showed he made great strides last season, now is the time to take even bigger steps and develop more,” he said before Tuesday’s clash.
“He scored 23 goals last season, which was a great comeback. He took great strides to become the forward he can be.
“Every season is a challenge and you cannot rest on your laurels at Man United. There are demands on every position.
‘We want Anthony to continue. His conversion rate has always been good, but so far the goalkeepers have made good saves against him.
Anthony is no different from other players, he has not had a preseason as usual and is preparing for his best form.
‘He had a three-game suspension, so he lost too much football. But he scored against Basaksehir last time, good header, and I hope he returns to his best level. ”
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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