Manchester United are out of the Champions League after defeat in Germany to RB Leipzig.
Here is a look at five things we learned from a disappointing performance…
You can’t keep starting badly
Manchester United have become used to starting poorly. Unfortunately you cannot get away with that on a regular basis.
There is a difference also in going behind against the likes of Southampton or West Ham.
RB Leipzig are a difference calibre of opponent, and United were made to pay for a horrific start.
United were 1-0 down after two minutes and 2-0 after 12. Only an offside call prevented it being 3-0 after half an hour.
Mason Greenwood missed a chance at 1-0 which could have changed the night.
United fought back late on – and gave real hope at 3-2 for the final 10 minutes. In the end there was just too much to do.
McTominay and Matic midfield did not work
Fred’s energy was badly missed in this game. Paul Pogba was supposedly dropped for tactical reasons – but we all know there was more to it than that.
That left Scott McTominay and Nemanja Matic as starters. It did not work.
Donny van de Beek would have been a better call. Matic struggled to offer any defensive protection, and next to nothing from an attacking standpont.
McTominay struggled too, and together they contributed little. When a defensively minded team concedes two goals in the first 12 minutes, this is not the combination you want in midfield to turn the game around.
Van de Beek came on at half-time and showed far more attacking intent.
Paul Pogba is United’s sixth choice midfielder
Paul Pogba was a starter in the Europa League semi-final four months ago.
He is becoming increasingly irrelevant now, with his agent once again creating problems behind the scenes.
Bruno Fernandes, Scott McTominay, Nemanja Matic and Donny van de Beek were all preferred to him, even with Fred suspended.
Pogba is United’s sixth choice midfielder. He came on with half an hour to go, but the pecking order had already been established.
He scored late on to give United hope after a Fernandes penalty, and he played very well when he came on, but it just was not quite enough.
Edinson Cavani badly missed
This was the type of game in which United would have loved to have been able to call on Edinson Cavani.
Cavani’s clinical finishing, movement, and energy could have provided the attacking spark required, particularly late on when United needed an equaliser.
The Uruguayan missed out through injury and it remains a regret that he was able to start just two of the six Champions League group matches.
Response is needed
This defeat hurts. Europa League football had not seemed on the agenda after two wins from the first two group games.
United can’t dwell on this, the fixture list will not allow it. United have a derby with Manchester City this weekend.
A win there will lift the gloom, and then there are two more league games and a Carabao Cup quarter-final before Christmas.
There is no compensation for missing out on Champions League knockout qualification, but United have to fix up, and make the situation better and not worse.
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