Manchester United have gone a whole year without winning in Europe and their 1-1 draw against Fenerbahce showed a side devoid of a clear game plan – something has to give soon
When the clocks go back this weekend, Manchester United will be in danger of turning theirs back to 1986.
When Sir Alex Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford, United were mid-table in the league but they won the odd cup to keep the club in any discussion about English football’s big hitters. Fast forward 38 years and United are 12th in the Premier League, and under Erik ten Hag they have won two cups.
But in Europe, they are coming up short again. They managed to get knocked out of the Champions League last season in a group containing Copenhagen and Galatasaray.
And so far this year in the Europa League, the secondary competition, they are 21st in the table of 36 teams after three consecutive draws where they have surrendered the lead each time.
Two and a half years into Ten Hag’s reign, there are more questions than answers. Instead of Turkish delight, they went back to Istanbul – where they conceded three goals against Galatasaray 12 months ago – and had to settle for another draw with Fenebahce.
That’s one win in 11 games in Europe for Ten Hag. Sorry, that’s not good enough. Look at some of the teams above United in the Europa League right now. With respect, Bodo/Glimt and Midtjylland are not powerhouses of European football. And beneath United, there are no giants of the game.
They are now under big pressure to win their home games if they are going to finish in the top echelons of the Europa League and progress to the knockout stages. And there’s still massive pressure on Ten Hag on the home front, where he faces another huge game at West Ham this weekend.
Against Fenerbahce, although Christian Eriksen scored a terrific goal and Andre Onana made an astonishing double save, the manager shuffled the pack – and it was only a part-success.
Selecting Noussair Mazraoui as No.10 was a left-field pick, to say the least. He has played in that role before under Ten Hag, for Ajax in a Champions League game at Lille in 2019, but it was noticeable that United had more control when Casemiro came on and Mazraoui was deployed as a defender in the second half.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Will Erik ten Hag turn things around at Manchester United, or are his days as manager numbered? Comment below.
Although there was talk of them being short of bodies with 10 players missing through injury or suspension, United’s bench still had room for Ten Hag’s three most expensive signings – Antony, Casemiro and Rasmus Hojlund.
One bright spot in the seething Sukru Saracoglu Stadium was Manuel Ugarte’s performance in a deep-lying No.6 role. The Uruguayan made one goal-saving block and looks as if he could do with a run of games.
But the fans are still asking: What is United’s style? Are they looking to dominate possession and play out from the back, or are they better-suited to using Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford’s pace on the counter-attack?
I have spoken before about the gulf between United and Manchester City, but if you look at both the Premier League and Champions League tables, Liverpool are top of one and joint-top of the other. Unless United are careful, another big gap is going to open up between them and one of their closest rivals.
For me, Ten Hag has to pick his best available XI in every game now. He is not in a position to experiment or rotate the squad for the sake of rotation. Honestly, 12th in the Premier League with a minus goal difference and 21st in the Europa League? Manchester United should be better than that.
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