Shock Defeat For The Red Devils

It appears Cristiano Ronaldo or no Cristiano Ronaldo, the Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde Manchester United refuses to go away. We slumped to our first defeat in the season in our maiden Champions League match this season. You can’t win them all and at some point during the season, a team will lose, a fact that I can accept.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6IxCiumYYk

Great Start

We got off to a great start early in the game when Cristiano Ronaldo converted a great assist from Bruno Fernandes; it was our first real attempt on goal. On a counter-attack after scoring the first goal, Ronaldo nearly made it 2-0. That was as good as it got for us in an attacking sense. We had a shout at a penalty in the second half when Ronaldo raced clear of the Young Boys defender, Ali Camara appeared to nudge him in his back.



Turning Point

The turning point in the game came in the 35th minute of the match when Aaron Wan-Bissaka was sent off. I will not criticise Wan-Bissaka for getting sent off as he made a genuine attempt at getting the ball but just over-stepped his tackle. I would put it down as misfortune on his part. Before his sending off, we were not threatening too much but we were in control.

Lack Of Composure & Mental Strength

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has taken a lot of flak for his substitutions in trying to manage the game at 1-0 with 10 men for 55 minutes. It’s easy for us to say he should have done this or that and a manager is judged by the success and failure of his choices which in this case, he failed (AGAIN). I will not delve deeper into the topic of substitutions. However, I would say that we didn’t manage the game well at 1-0 with 10 men. We have players with experience of playing in the Champions League, World Cup, European Championships, Copa America matches but yet we showed a lack of composure and mental fortitude to manage the game.

Lack Of Concentration

Despite being under the cosh, I felt we dealt with Young Boys’ threat well. Luke Shaw did well all night in blocking crosses from his flank. The one time he lost concentration and was slow to cut out the cross, it resulted in a goal. For the winning goal, a substitute that wasn’t really in the game since coming on plays a weak back pass and the rest we know what happened. It was a very disappointing and upsetting end. I could imagine the abuse Jesse Lingard would get on social media for that mistake when the winning goal was scored. If not for that, we could have escaped with a draw but to be fair, even with 10 men, we should have done better in the second half in retaining possession and attacking.

Ronaldo & Varane’s Response

I will be interested to know the response of players like Ronaldo and Raphael Varane in the dressing room after this defeat; two new signings, two players accustomed to winning and know what it takes to win. What impact will their words and action have on the team? How will it affect the team? I would love to be a fly in the wall leading up to the weekend match. On to the next one then. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time For Italy To Prove Themselves

Image
We are on the eve of Euro 2020 and Italy will kick off the tournament for the first time in my time as a fan. In the days leading up to the tournament, there has been a lot of positive attention on the team. Some are tipping them to be the dark horses of the tournament, some are tipping them to go all the way to the final and even winning it. If you have followed the Italian national team as long as I have, you will know that this spells trouble. Whenever Italy has entered a tournament as one of the favourites, they have disappointed for example 1996, 2002 and 2004. The only exception would be 1994 where they went all the way to the final after a slow start. When no one has given them a chance, they have done well as we have seen in 2000, 2006, 2012 and to an extent, 2016. If I apply this logic, it doesn’t bode well for Italy in this tournament. I have not watched Italy play since that unfateful World Cup qualifier playoff elimination by Sweden in 2017 because I have not had any ac
Read more

Supercoppa Champions (Again!) Cover The Cracks

Image
Inter swept past Milan 3-0 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to retain the Supercoppa Italiana. I couldn't watch the match as it wasn't shown "live" in Singapore. It is always great to win a derby in this fashion but the feeling is lost when you don't actually watch the match. We have continued the trend of winning trophies in consecutive seasons which is an excellent habit to cultivate and this victory has proved that there is no doubt that Inter can beat anyone in a one-off match.  However, this victory just papers over growing cracks at Inter. When I see the club President, Steven Zhang get involved in the trophy celebrations, I feel he is not embarrassed. To be honest, his involvement looks a bit awkward as well. The squad is increasingly heading towards degeneration as the best players are slowly getting picked apart and replaced by ageing players. We know the reason why this is the case - the club is broke and they have to sell to invest in the team. The 30-something-
Read more

Routine Inter Win

Image
It’s not often that Inter records a routine win. After all, we are not known as “Pazza Inter” for nothing. This win against Fiorentina away at Stadio Artemio Franchi is impressive for a couple of reasons. One, it came after only 2 days of rest after our midweek Coppa Italia semi-final, first-leg against Juventus. Second, we have not beaten La Viola in Florence since 2014. Strong & Sharp Start To The Game We got off to a great start in this match, we were sharp and incisive in our attacks. Nicolo Barella made the wrong decision with his cut-back and then his shot was saved impressively by Bartlomiej Dragowski. It looked odds on that he would score. In another attack, Alexis Sanchez’s drag-back missed everyone in a white shirt in the box. It looked like we were going to struggle to break them down until Barella scored a goal of great individual quality, curling a shot from outside the box into the bottom corner of the net. Poor Response To Taking The Lead Our response to taking t
Read more