United players fully support Ten Hag

The future of English Manchester United appears to be hanging by a thread in the Champions League competition when it receives at its Old Trafford stadium Bayern Munich of Germany, the leader of Group A, in the final sixth round, which witnesses a fiery confrontation between Copenhagen of Denmark and Galatasaray of Turkey.

Manchester United, who won the title three times, needs a miracle because victory at the “Theater of Dreams” stadium may not be enough for them.

The English team has four points, one point behind its competitors for the second ticket, Copenhagen and Galatasaray, who meet in the Danish capital, and a victory for either of them will give it a ticket to the second round, regardless of the other match. United, which has the best attacking line in the group with 12 goals compared to the worst defense line (conceding 14 goals), will demand victory on the condition that Copenhagen and Galatasaray draw to ensure second place and qualify for the final 16, while a win for one of the latter will give it third place and complete its continental journey. In the European League competition “Europa League”.

United’s task will not be easy, especially since it will receive a team wounded by a humiliating loss to Eintracht Frankfurt 1-5 in the German League on Saturday, and thus it will show its fangs against the Red Devils to reconcile its fans and return to the path of victories, knowing that Bayern has not been defeated for six years in the group stage. In turn, United suffered a humiliating loss at home to Bournemouth, 3-0, on Saturday in the league.

The balance of direct confrontations tilts in favor of the Bavarian club, which emerged victorious five times in the last ten matches, while the Red Devils were victorious only twice, most notably the final of the 1999 edition (2-1) in Barcelona.

Former United star Michael Owen criticized the team, saying: “There is no identity in this team. I don’t know what they are trying to do, is it a counter attack team, or a possession team? “I have no idea who they are.”

On the other hand, his Dutch coach, Eric Ten Hag, admitted the poor situation, saying: “We are not good enough to be regular in achieving good results. We have to work collectively to improve this.”

It is certain that the early exit from the prestigious continental competition will put more pressure on Ten Hag’s shoulders, who realizes the difficulty of his task against a team whose last defeat in the group stage of the Champions League dates back to six years ago.

Ten Hag insisted, after defeating Chelsea 2-1 in the fifteenth round of the English Premier League, that the “Red Devils” team is not experiencing a crisis, but his hopes for United’s ability to find a turning point did not last long after they suffered a painful defeat at home to Bournemouth 0 – 3 Saturday, three days before his fateful European due date.

United, which seemed clearly entering into a crisis of confidence, occupies sixth place in the Premier League with 27 points after suffering its seventh defeat this season in 16 matches, 10 points behind leaders Liverpool.

While United can still catch up with the leading teams and compete for the top four places qualifying for the Champions League next season, the need to reserve their ticket to the eighth final of the main continental competition has become an urgent matter.

United’s floundering inside the green rectangle is reflected in its weakness on the defensive front, as it conceded 14 times in five European matches, at a rate of 2.8 goals per match, while it lost its offensive effectiveness in the local league, as it scored only 18 goals in 16 matches.

“We are really inconsistent,” Ten Hag said as Bournemouth celebrated their first ever win at Old Trafford. We have the ability to play at a better level, but we do not have the continuity to do so in every match…” He added, “I think we do not have enough quality to provide consistency, and we must work to develop that.”

“If we can return to the level we showed against Chelsea, we can beat any competitor,” Ten Hag said on the sidelines of the match against Bayern.

United suffers from the absence of a deadly spearhead, as no striker in its ranks has been able to score at home in the league since the beginning of the current season.

This decline reflects his striker Marcus Rashford, who is almost completely absent from scoring, after he scored 30 goals last season, the best score in his career, but he only found the net twice this season, one of them from a penalty kick.

It seems that the international striker for the Three Lions has exhausted Ten Hag’s patience, who put him on the bench in the last two matches against Chelsea and Bournemouth, but it is likely that he will be started against the Bavarian giant due to the lack of solutions. On the other hand, Argentine Alejandro Garnacho showed flashes of brilliance, although his performance is still unstable for a 19-year-old winger.

In addition to United’s crisis, Brazilian Anthony, whom Ten Hag brought in in a deal worth $108 million last year, has not scored, as he has not scored in the last 25 matches.

The Anthony deal is one of a long list of costly failures that have seen United decline in the decade since legendary Scottish coach Alex Ferguson decided to retire from coaching.

The loss to Bournemouth was the 35th that United had suffered at home in the league since Ferguson’s departure. In a quick look at the numbers during the Scottish coach’s golden period, which lasted 26 years, United lost at their home stadium, Old Trafford, in the Premier League in only 34 matches.

On the other hand, although Bayern secured its place in the last 16, leading the group, it wants to prove that its humiliating loss to Eintracht Frankfurt is nothing but a setback.

Manuel Neuer will lead Bayern’s goalkeeping, with the absence of Sven Ulrich, who has been a starter since the beginning of the season, due to a right ankle injury.

In the second group, after both Arsenal of England and PSV Eindhoven of Holland secured qualification to the second round, their confrontation (Tuesday) will be a win-win match, while the match between France’s Lens and Spain’s Sevilla will be for second place, which will move its owner to play in the European League.

The result of the match in which Arsenal hosts PSV Eindhoven will not affect the standings of the two teams in the group, as the English team took the lead in the group with 12 points, four points ahead of the Dutch, while Lens is in third place with five points, and Sevilla finished last with two points.

A draw in this match is enough for Lance to move to the European League, while victory alone is Sevilla’s hope of occupying third place after they tied in the first leg in Spain 1-1.

In the third group, whose first ticket was won by Spanish Real Madrid, Italian Napoli is looking to reserve the second ticket to advance to the second round when it hosts Sporting Braga of Portugal at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.

Napoli occupies second place in the group standings with seven points, while Braga occupies third place with four points. Despite the negative results achieved by Napoli recently at home, where they failed to achieve any victory in the last six matches held at home in all tournaments, including losing in four matches, the team is looking forward to ending this negative series and achieving a win or a draw at the very least in order to… Passing to the round of 16.

On the other hand, Braga’s hope is limited only to winning over its Italian host, by at least two goals, if it wants to qualify, especially since the team had lost the first leg at its home stadium 1-2.

In the other match in the group, Union Berlin will be last with two points, demanding a historic victory over Real Madrid, which has the perfect score so far, and waiting for a gift from Napoli with a victory over Braga, so that the German team can occupy third place and move on to play in the European League.

In the fourth group, although Inter Milan of Italy and Real Sociedad of Spain qualified for the second round, their confrontation at the San Siro Stadium will be to decide the lead.

Sociedad is at the top of the standings with 11 points on goal difference against Inter Milan, the runner-up of the last edition. The match that brought them together in Spain in the first round of competitions ended in a draw.

In the other match, it will be against Red Bull Salzburg of Austria and Benfica of Portugal in order to secure third place and move to play in the European League. Salzburg occupies third place with four points, and a draw or win with any result is sufficient for them, while Benfica, which is last with one point, has no alternative but to win by a difference of more than three goals in order to secure third place.