Last night Manchester United walked away from a tough game with Atletico Madrid with a draw thanks to a late equaliser from Anthony Elanga. Here are five things that we learnt.
Sloppy passing
Last night we saw a return of a common trait that we saw towards the end of Ole’s time at United. All over the pitch simple passes were being misplaced. Players were giving the ball away far too easily, especially in midfield. The need for a proper defensive midfielder was apparent. Simeone’s side were able to bypass our midfield with ease. It wasn’t until Matic was subbed on in the 66th minute that we started to look like we had a foothold in the game and things looked slightly more assured.
Bruno Fernandes was one of the major culprits for giving the ball away. It felt like as soon as their goal went in, his head dropped and he became too emotional. He was trying things that had no right to work, and they didn’t. Bruno’s situation is a strange one. Ultimately, he is allowed to persist being “wasteful” in possession because of his ability to produce chances. His consistency in creating opportunities is what makes him one of United’s best players on a regular basis. And it was only fitting then that he was the one to provide the assist for Elanga’s goal.
Weak Defending
It seemed like some of our defenders had pretty poor games. When the ball went into the box for the first goal, the defence just switched off. Luke Shaw needs to massively step his game up, he looks nothing like the player we saw at the end of last season. He showed no intensity, no desire and was taking far too much time on the ball. For their goal, it was a brilliant bit of movement from Felix. Ultimately though, Shaw lost his man in the box and Maguire was then far too slow to react.
I don’t think Lindelöf had a terrible game at right-back. However, when we went one nil down so early on and they were allowed to sit back, we needed creativity from both sides. Luke Shaw should have provided this on the left but was unable to produce anything meaningful. And with Lindelöf on the right there was very little chance for that creative spark that was needed.
Forwards not involved
Both Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were relatively anonymous last night. I thought Sancho looked slightly better than Rashford. When Jadon did have the ball he at least looked like he was able to beat his man and try and do something with it. However, Marcus continued on his trend of sub-par performances. I would be very surprised if Ralf Rangnick persists with playing him from the off.
With both wide-players however, there was very little movement. It felt like it wasn’t until Elanga came on that we saw a player make a run in behind. It seemed like both Sancho and Rashford were being blocked out of the game by Atletico’s wing-backs which forced them to come too deep for the ball. This was also an issue for Ronaldo. He was getting no service when he was staying up top. And so, being frustrated, he was dropping deep to get the ball. Which then meant that he wasn’t there when we did try and build an attack. All of this needs to change drastically.
Anthony Elanga
Once again Anthony Elanga popped up with a much needed goal. I thought he looked brilliant when he came on. With only fifteen minutes on the pitch, to the have impact that he did cannot be underestimated. I don’t know why he didn’t get the nod from the start in all honesty. He has been playing so well lately and providing big goals. With the way that Rashford has been playing I don’t understand why Elanga wasn’t picked from the start, or at least brought on earlier in the game.
That being said, the short cameo that he made was vital. Essentially his first touch leading to the goal. The way that he took that goal was fantastic. The run in behind and then the composure he showed to finish the goal in the way that he did was sublime. The self-assurance that must have been in him to put a finish like that past Jan Oblak of all people. Anthony Elanga is slowly looking more and more confident as the games go on. And moments like this will only help that assurance on the pitch.
Still in the tie
All things considered that was by no means the worst result that United could have got from that game. I think if you asked a lot of United fans before the game if they would’ve taken a one all draw, the vast majority would’ve been happy with that. Add into that then how poor we played for large periods of the game. United did very well to still be in this tie and not lost the game by at least three or four goals to one. But at the end of the day, Atletico Madrid now have to come to Old Trafford in a few weeks time and try and get a result. Any win for the Red Devils in the second leg would see us progress to the quarter-finals.