United Shows Its Beautiful Side

After a performance like what we saw this morning from Manchester United at Old Trafford against Istanbul Basaksehir, there isn’t much to write about. In case, you don’t already know, United beat the Turkish champions 4–1 to move closer to qualification for the knockout stages.

Our play in the first half was smooth and free-flowing. It was pleasant to watch and showed once again what this team is capable of if they turn on the style. This showed the quality available in this team. It might have been against a team that we would be favoured to dispose of but on this display, we can beat anyone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAuyYMfN9Ns

Free-Flowing Midfield & Attack

Donny van de Beek started the game at long last in a withdrawn centre midfield position alongside Fred, a change from where he normally plays. But he didn’t look out of depth playing there. He was instrumental in the quick circulation of possession and triangles we were playing, linking up with Bruno Fernandes further forward.

Fernandes silenced naysayers who claimed he only scored penalties by smashing us in front. The triangles we played benefitted him too as he was quick in releasing the ball and looking for one of our front three. Anthony Martial was moved out to the left-wing to accommodate Edinson Cavani as the traditional number nine. Martial was devastating, taking on opponents with pace and tricky all that he lacked was a goal. Cavani was a busy bee upfront, chasing down opponents from the first minute to last, sprightly in his movement, he too lacked a goal as his team-mates didn’t create favourable chances for him. Marcus Rashford complimented Martial’s work on the right-wing and won us a penalty that he converted to give us a three-goal lead at half-time.

Second Half

The pace and intensity in our game dropped in the second half and questions can be raised at our ruthlessness. The way we played in the first half, if we had pressed on in the second half, we would have scored more. Instead, we lacked the zip in our passing and the sharp movement, seemingly comfortable at trying to coast through the second half. Istanbul benefited from us taking our feet off the pedal. They grew into the game and got more confident when they pulled one back from a Deniz Turuc free-kick. David De Gea looked to have been surprised by the free-kick which he tried in vain at keeping out but fail to stop it creeping across the line.

From that moment on, we risked making it extremely uncomfortable. Istanbul’s captain, Edin Visca smashed one effort off the bar. Nerves were jangling and it was unnecessary having had a comfortable lead. We got a fourth goal to calm us down on the counter-attack as finally, Mason Greenwood showed composure on the ball and delivered a pin-point cross for Daniel James to score.

The Aftermath

We got one foot in the Last 16 of the Champions League now. All we need is one point from the remaining two matches, tough ones at home to Paris Saint-Germain and away to RB Leipzig. Both teams will be desperate for points to aid their own qualification quest while baying for our blood.

Such is our inconsistency that we wouldn’t be surprised if we contrast this performance with a poor one against Southampton next. I wouldn’t be surprised that despite van de Beek’s very good performance this morning, he is dropped on Sunday. All we can do is hope and pray that we find the consistency that we are craving for. You never know what you get with this Manchester United.