The loss to Bayern reveals United’s defensive crisis and the weakness of its goalkeeper
With the exception of Manchester United’s loss to Bayern Munich 3-4 in the latter’s stronghold, the English teams made a good start in the first round of the Champions League with broad victories for Arsenal and Manchester City (over Serbian Red Star 3-1) and Newcastle’s return with an important goalless draw against its Italian host Milan.
The loss that United suffered against Bayern in Group A, which was their fourth in the last five matches, revealed that the English team is suffering from a real crisis in its defense line, shaky goalkeeping, and offensive ineffectiveness, as the team scored 9 goals, while conceding 14. A goal since the beginning of the season.
Despite Manchester United’s strong start to the match that was held in Bavaria, the team received the first goal in a dramatic manner, as Cameroonian goalkeeper Andre Onana failed to stop Leroy Sane’s ground shot from the edge of the penalty area and it escaped his hand and hugged the net in the 28th minute, after which the German team imposed its control. Before the excitement rose in the last minutes of the match.
The Cameroonian goalkeeper admitted that he bears responsibility for his team’s loss after his mistake in the first goal that gave the German giant the initiative. Onana excelled in the Italian ranks of Inter Milan, and contributed to them reaching the Champions League final last season, but he suffered in recent weeks at the beginning of his career with the English club, which he joined for 58 million US dollars.
Dutch coach Eric Ten Hag’s team conceded three or more goals in three consecutive matches for the first time since 1978. Onana said after the match: “After my mistake, we lost control of the match.” “It’s a difficult situation for us, especially for me because I’m the one who let the team down.” He added: “My start in Manchester was not very good, it is not the way I want to play. It was one of my worst matches; It is difficult because we have great ambition, and we want to win everything. It was a great opportunity for us to come back after the situation we are facing. It is a difficult time. We have to be together and learn from our mistakes; Because that is the only thing to do.”
Portuguese Bruno Fernandes, United’s captain, supported the goalkeeper and asked him to stop blaming himself and said: “It is not about Onana. Andre is a great goalkeeper. He will continue to give us a lot of points and make a lot of saves. He does not have to bear the guilt of losing. We will get through this moment together because we are stronger as a team.”
Dutch coach Erik Ten Hag, who had refused last week after the loss to Brighton, to acknowledge that United are in a crisis, realizes that the series of successive losses will put more pressure on him and the players, and that he is required to find quick solutions to repeated mistakes, especially in the defense line. Sources close to Ten Hag had indicated that he reprimanded the players after the Bayern match, and asked everyone to look in the mirror to see the mistakes that had become strangely repeated and led to catastrophic losses.
The Dutch coach, who was invited to face Burnley on Saturday, is facing great pressure after a disappointing start to the season that saw him lose three times locally out of five English Premier League matches (before losing to Bayern in Europe), ranking 13th with 6 points, 9 points behind his neighbor, Manchester City, the leader.
Manchester United suffered from the absence of an influential group of players, most notably in defence, Frenchman Raphael Varane and Luke Xuan-Bissaka, and finally Harry Maguire, in addition to midfielder Mason Mount. United also lost the efforts of winger Jadon Sancho, who was excluded due to his disagreement with the coach, in addition to the Brazilian winger Anthony, who was placed on leave to face suspicions of domestic violence after a complaint from his ex-girlfriend, while the Moroccan international midfielder Sofiane Amrabat, who came from the Italian club Fiorentina on loan, has not yet appeared due to his lack of recovery. He suffered an injury while he was with his country’s national team.
At the Emirates Stadium in the capital, London, Arsenal had a wonderful night and celebrated its long-awaited return to the Champions League with a huge victory over PSV Eindhoven 4-0. Arsenal’s Spanish coach, Mikel Arteta, commented that he was very moved by the “beautiful night” and said: “It was a wonderful night that pleased the fans after a long period of absence.”
Odegaard celebrates scoring Arsenal’s fourth goal against PSV Eindhoven (AP)
The coach, whose team missed the last six editions of the Champions League, added: “We wanted to provide the appropriate performance to win the match. “It was great to see the atmosphere and hear the Champions League music.” He added: “I was affected, yes. I was excited about the match. I wanted to be in control and not show it too much. But I was very excited.”
He stressed: “The journey began last year, when we won the right to be present in this competition, where we are supposed to be present as a big club. Now we have to do what we have to do to stay at this level.”
After seeing his team struggle a lot to penetrate the defenses of teams that rely on defensive plans, Arteta was particularly happy with the effective attacking method and his team’s ability to settle the match before the end of the first half.
“It was a very wonderful performance,” he said. This is what we must do. That’s why I mentioned that inside the penalty area we were exceptional, we were ferocious, and we took advantage of opportunities. This was a great performance. In addition, we could have done more.”
Onana believes that he let United down with his cut-out mistakes
In their first Champions League match since the 2016-2017 season, Arsenal achieved a quadruple scored by Bukayo Saka after 8 minutes, Belgian Leandro Trossard (20), and Brazilian Gabriel Jesus (38) before Norwegian Martin Odegaard concluded the fourth in the 70th minute. In the same group, Spain’s Sevilla tied with its French counterpart, Lens, 1-1.
Arsenal looks forward to continuing its strong performances when it meets its brilliant London neighbor, Tottenham, led by Australian coach Ange Postecoglou, on Sunday, in the Premier League. Arteta hopes to confirm that the balance of power is still tilted in his team’s favor in the confrontations against Tottenham, and the Spanish coach said: “I have 24 players who are looking forward to playing Sunday’s match.”
Tottenham won four times and tied once during the first five Premier League matches, giving the team its best start in 57 years, and the confrontation against Arsenal will be a judgment on the capabilities of Postecoglou, the 58-year-old former Scottish Celtic coach. Tottenham have not won at the Emirates Stadium in the league for 13 years, and lost five times in the last six matches, conceding 16 goals.
2023-09-21 20:18:45
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