For every win over PSG and RB Leipzig, there's a loss to the likes of Istanbul Basaksehir and Crystal Palace. What's behind Man United's maddening series of results?
Manchester United seemed to have done the hard work. A win at Paris Saint-Germain in its Champions League opener, and a 5-0 demolition of RB Leipzig last week meant it could have all but guaranteed its place in the last 16 with a pair of wins over the lowest-ranked side in the group, Istanbul Basaksehir. But in the first of those games, on Wednesday, Man United lost, 2-1. Qualification for the knockout stage is suddenly not as straightforward, while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will again be left to ponder just why his team is so inconsistent.
Just how can it lose 6-1 to Tottenham one week and then hammer the Bundesliga leaders the next? How can it lose at home to Crystal Palace and then win in Paris? There is talk of intensity and character, but as a run of 10 successive away wins came to an end, the issue seemed largely tactical.
The truth is that United’s form isn’t erratic at all. In fact it’s extremely consistent. When it can sit back, absorb pressure with men behind the ball and strike on the break through its pacy and talented forward players, it’s extremely effective. That’s why Solskjaer has picked up so many positive results against high-level sides: his United has beaten Pep Guardiola’s Man City three times and Thomas Tuchel’s PSG twice. It was the first side to take points off Liverpool in the league last season and sliced Leipzig apart last week. It’s why it hadn’t lost an away game since January.
It's when United has to take the play to an opponent that itself sits deep–when the onus is on Man United to attack–that it struggles. That’s why it hasn’t won any of its last six home league games, why it’s lost twice at home to Palace in the last two seasons, and why it was so poor in Istanbul Wednesday.
The problem is twofold. On the one hand, a persistent failing of Solskjaer has been his inability to organize an attack. This is a major change in the game over the past decade. The likes of Jurgen Klopp and Guardiola excel at constructing cohesive attacking units. Others, such as Jose Mourinho and Solskjaer, prefer to let the forwards improvise. But against packed defenses that is difficult and it leaves United relying on individual moments of brilliance. The Europa League semifinal defeat to Sevilla was a case in point, as United dominated possession but made little or no impact.
The tendency then is to overcommit players to the attack, and so that then compromises the defensive structure. That was what happened in the 6-1 defeat to Tottenham a month ago, when United was exposed again and again on the counterattack. And it also led to Istanbul Basaksehir’s two goals Wednesday.
The first was startling, the sort of goal that is occasionally scored deep in injury time as a despairing team chases a goal and is caught on the break–only that this one arrived after 13 minutes. United piled forward for a corner that was taken short, and when possession was lost, the deepest United player was Nemanja Matic, and he was at least 20 yards inside the Baskasehir half. Demba Ba ran unopposed for more than half the length of the pitch before beating Dean Henderson.
The second goal was a more orthodox break, converted by Edin Visca after a clever step over from Ba. But United’s organization was still called into question, with three defenders left congregated at the near post as the Bosnia international slammed in. And it wasn’t just the goals. Axel Tuanzebe could easily have been sent off for his cynical tug on Ba as he looked to chase onto a simple ball over the top. Defensively it was a shambolic performance.
Going forward, it wasn’t much better, either. Anthony Martial did pull a goal back before halftime with a fine header from Luke Shaw’s cross, but United was dreadfully flat through the second half, making little impression on the home defense despite carrying two-thirds possession. The closest it came to an equalizer was a failed clearance following a corner that was hacked off the line by Alexandru Epureanu.
Solskjaer has now been in charge for 101 games. He is not new to the job. With Bruno Fernandes, Donny van der Beek and Edinson Cavani all added to the squad, this is a team that may still be unbalanced but at least has a strong core. And yet none of the fundamentals have changed. United still cannot coherently take the game to an opponent, and it remains prone to exposing itself to the counter as it tries to make up for those deficiencies of organization through weight of numbers. There has been the occasional eye-catching victory, but, ultimately, there is no real improvement.