CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG

by Stefan Attard

Manchester United looked to be heading upwards when they qualified for the Champions League following a strong end to the 2019/20 season. Fast-forward three months and after a bad start in the domestic league, United enjoyed a fantastic start to their Champions League group stage. The Champions League had provided a welcome distraction from domestic difficulties for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, but, having beaten Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig, their shortcomings were exposed in an abject defeat on the banks of the Bosphorus on Wednesday evening. The embarrassing defeat to Istanbul Basaksehir put their qualification hopes in jeopardy.

Many United fans expected that the team would build on that late surge which secured a top‑four finish on the final day; however, the Reds made their worst start to a Premier League campaign since the David Moyes era, and the worst start at Old Trafford in almost half a century. After all the promise, how did we end up here?

A missed opportunity over the summer? Did complacency seep into Old Trafford following their surge to qualify for the Champions League? Three months on, remarks by Gary Neville immediately after United joined Chelsea in securing a top‑four finish on the final day of last season make for sobering reading. “What Manchester United and Chelsea need now is to not think this is OK,” Neville said. “The big mistake these two clubs could make would be to think they are going to catch Manchester City and Liverpool. They won’t if they don’t improve by another 10-15 per cent.”

“Solskjaer needs to spend money, but not recklessly. There needs to be a right winger, there needs to be a challenge at centre-forward, at left‑back, definitely at goalkeeper and they need a centre-back, a top centre-back who can bring that level of domination to a defence like Virgil van Dijk does at Liverpool.”

Sound advice, good advice. Problem was, only Chelsea listened. Whereas United, prior to a frantic Deadline Day, only signed a midfielder (the one position Neville did not list as requiring strengthening), Chelsea did everything that Neville said United needed to do - signing a new centre-forward (Timo Werner), a left-back (Ben Chilwell), a right winger (Kai Havertz), a goalkeeper (Edouard Mendy) and a ‘top’ centre-back (Thiago Silva). As Neville then had to ruefully note in early September when Tottenham won 6-1 at Old Trafford, those critical months of inaction over the summer were when “they grabbed defeat from victory”. The failure to land Sancho in the transfer market once again seems to have highlighted United’s incompetence when it comes to signing players.

With hindsight, it is ironic that since then, Chelsea sacked their club legend following a string of disappointing results. Perhaps simply buying a lot of superstars and putting them in a team is not the answer to success. At the time of writing, United are second with City seemingly destined to claim the domestic title.

The delayed return to the Premier League United returned to Premier League action just 34 days after losing to Sevilla in the Europa League with a laboured, heavy-legged defeat at home to a Crystal Palace side which had enjoyed a longer break and returned to action the week before. United’s poor display that afternoon was hardly out of keeping with those of Wolves, Chelsea and Man City in early September, all of whom also struggled on their return following a late Premier League restart.

But the problem for United is the impression they are still playing catch-up. Perhaps their delayed start paid dividends further down the line. But the defeat to Palace has set a tone which United are still cursing now: their momentum punctured and their confidence plunged.

The failed pursuit of Jadon Sancho Opportunities arrive in a time of crisis, and Manchester United were one of a select group of football clubs with shoulders broad enough not only to weather the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but to actually come out the other side stronger. As leagues across Europe were being suspended and - in some cases - cancelled, revenue streams dried up and suddenly, the value of some of the best talent in European football plummeted. It prompted Solskjaer to declare Manchester United could “exploit” the transfer market back in April, and the prospect of luring long-term target Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund at a reduced rate made for fascinating reading. But United’s unwillingness to meet Dortmund’s valuation saw indecision haunt yet another transfer window. Their top target stayed put, Solskjaer was forced to backtrack on his initial comments, and a flurry of Deadline Day signings did little to appease calls for reinforcements. With the arrival of Amad Diallo, I do not see United pursuing Sancho in the next transfer window.

The lack of pace in defence As far as former United captain Neville was concerned, the pursuit of Sancho was way down on the list of priorities Solskjaer had to address in the summer. Despite keeping nine clean sheets during an unbeaten final 14‑game run in the Premier League, establishing a defensive unit fit to shoulder a title challenge remained the ultimate objective. And the first 90‑minute performance and many others to follow from Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof only emboldened Neville’s claim. “We can talk about Sancho all we like but until Manchester United get a centre-back who can run and defend one-on-ones, they are never going to win the league,” he said after the 3-1 opening-day defeat to Crystal Palace. “They are never going to win the Premier League with that centre-back pairing.”

When Solskjaer listened to calls to inject some pace into his backline after it was given the run-around at Brighton, Maguire and new centre-back partner Eric Bailly shipped six goals against Tottenham in a shambolic, jointheaviest home defeat in Premier League history. United looked to have turned the corner with back-to-back clean sheets against Chelsea and RB Leipzig after Neymar and Kylian Mbappe were nullified in a morale‑boosting victory at

Paris Saint-Germain, but defeat to Arsenal and the calamitous setback in Istanbul undid that progress and left Solskjaer wondering who to entrust in defence.

This season has highlighted United’s fragilities at centre back positions. While Lindelof and Maguire are both good defenders, they seem not to complement each other as both seem to lack pace. In fact, when Bailly partners Maguire, United seem to be better at the back. The problem with Bailly is that he can’t seem to stay fit. ...And a lack of leadership? The accusation United lack leadership is something that many United fans agree on. “I don’t see any leaders out there,” Roy Keane told Sky Sports on Sunday after the 1-0 loss to Arsenal. “There’s a real lack of quality. There’s a long way back for this club.” While Maguire has bristled at the description, United’s extraordinary concession to Demba Ba in Turkey, when the entire United team were situated in the final 30 yards of the pitch, has inevitably raised more questions about the type of players that Solskjaer has at his disposal. There seems to be one man who seems more fitting of a United captain who keeps dragging Manchester United over the finish line – Bruno Fernandes.

Inconsistency There is no denying that United have overall improved from last season; however, the team still remains unpredictable. The pendulum seems to swing from sheer quality and brilliant performances to poor and blunt outings. This was reflected countless times this season with brilliant performances in the first encounters versus PSG and RB Leipzig to losing against Besiktas and Sheffield United – the latter seemingly staring at relegation barring a miraculous comeback. Throughout the season United made a habit of conceding before coming into life with this scenario happening in many games. Unfortunately, despite many United fans expecting United to come back against Leipzig, they conceded another two.

After the goal, there was a wildness about United’s defiance, they ran on hope and adrenaline towards the end, but their lack of cohesion and savvy earlier on and their inability to do the basics, was decisive. They will lament the shock defeat at Istanbul Basaksehir as the moment when the tide turned in this difficult group. It seemed costly at the time and it has come to feel more and more so. That was the night when they were exposed.

In my opinion, despite the early exit from the Champions League, we are certainly closer to the Manchester United us fans enjoyed watching during the Sir Alex Ferguson era. Being a young team led by a former Manchester United player who knows everything about the Man Utd DNA, I can see the Reds learning from their mistakes and move forward. Without too much fanfare and big money signings, the manager is moulding a team for the future and despite the inconsistencies, it wouldn’t come at a surprise if the Reds go all the way to clinch the Europa League trophy.