Manchester United suffered a humbling defeat at home to Bournemouth, losing for the sixth time at Old Trafford this season.
Erik ten Hag’s side, who began with Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund on the bench, were toothless, struggled against the press and conceded sloppy goals as they lost 3-0.
In winning, Bournemouth became the last of the current 20 Premier League teams to claim a win away at United in their history.
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With a vital Champions League tie against Bayern Munich on Tuesday and a trip to Liverpool (a game Bruno Fernandes will now miss through suspension) next weekend, Dan Sheldon and Ahmed Walid explain what went wrong.
What went wrong for United?
Relative to their season, is it even a surprise they lost to Bournemouth?
It was a typical United performance, where they struggled to make any impact going forward and were vulnerable at the back. Perhaps the most alarming element of the defeat was how meek they were.
Against Chelsea here on Wednesday, United were full of energy and it appeared they had turned a corner after Ten Hag got a number of his big calls right.
Dominic Solanke gives Bournemouth the lead (Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)When Bournemouth scored their third of the afternoon on 73 minutes, boos echoed around Old Trafford and hundreds of fans headed for the exits. That tells you exactly what the supporters thought.
Despite having more than 20 shots, only three of United’s efforts were on target and Bournemouth were more than content to sit deep and remain narrow, waiting to hit United on the counter.
Dan Sheldon
Why did United struggle so much?
After Newcastle smothered them last Saturday, United’s build-up phase couldn’t handle Bournemouth’s pressing either in the first half here.
From the beginning of the game, Andoni Iraola’s side were aggressive off the ball with their pressing, leading to their first goal of the game when Lewis Cook won the ball in the centre of the pitch, before finding Dominic Solanke’s run in the box.
Ten Hag’s team were very poor (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)It wasn’t only the pressing, but also Bournemouth’s direct approach and their ability to win second balls. In a transitional game, United’s rushed attacks didn’t help as it meant they could be caught out with their defenders having too much space to cover when Bournemouth won the ball back and countered quickly.
That was the case in the second half when United upped the tempo of their attacks, and from a defensive recovery in midfield Bournemouth managed to counter through Solanke who found Marcus Tavernier out wide, and the latter’s cross was headed in by Philip Billing at the far post to score Bournemouth’s 68th-minute second.
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Ahmed Walid
Why were Hojlund and Rashford on the bench?
United said Rashford missed training yesterday through illness, but he recovered in time to be on the bench. It is the second match in a row where Ten Hag has named the England forward as a substitute, instead favouring Antony to play on the right flank.
Antony had one of his better games against Galatasaray on November 29 and has followed that up with solid performances. Rashford, though, has struggled for form, scoring only twice in his 15 league appearances this season.
PL clubs' first league wins at Man Utd
| CLUB | DATE |
|---|---|
March 15, 1902 | |
December 16, 1893 | |
December 9, 2023 | |
January 27, 1934 | |
August 7, 2022 | |
January 12, 1901 | |
November 7, 1908 | |
October 10, 1970 | |
October 19, 1892 | |
April 1, 1963 | |
February 19, 1910 | |
September 18, 1897 | |
September 7, 1912 | |
November 13, 1897 | |
January 14, 1893 | |
March 10, 1894 | |
November 4, 1911 | |
December 25, 1922 | |
November 12, 1938 |
Ten Hag opted to start Anthony Martial over Hojlund, as he did in the defeat to Newcastle last Saturday, and attributed this to the recent number of games he has played, as well as resting him ahead of the coming week’s fixtures against Bayern Munich and Liverpool.
Despite scoring five times for United in as many Champions League games, big summer buy Hojlund is yet to get off the mark in the Premier League.
Dan Sheldon
What team should Ten Hag play against Bayern?
The difficulty for the United manager is that he has little option but to select a similar team.
It is unlikely he will take Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw out of central defence, even though Raphael Varane returned to the squad this afternoon. The only realistic change would be to swap out Diogo Dalot and replace him with Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Ten Hag may favour Kobbie Mainoo over Sofyan Amrabat, but it would be a big call to select an 18-year-old in a must-win Champions League match.
Rashford was on the bench again (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)Hojlund should start ahead of Martial, which means the biggest choice facing Ten Hag is whether he names Rashford on the bench for a third successive match.
As mentioned above, Antony had one of his better games for United in the recent 3-3 draw away to Galatasaray and put in a good display against Everton, but he was poor here.
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Dan Sheldon
What did Ten Hag say?
I’m annoyed and disappointed. I expected something different. I hoped before the game to build on the performance and result against Chelsea. I’m very disappointed the way we started.”
What next for Manchester United?
Tuesday, December 12: Bayern Munich (H), Champions League, 8pm GMT/3pm ET
Bottom of Group A with only this finale at home to its winners left, United must beat Bayern (who they hope will be resting key players having secured top spot — although after their shock 5-1 loss against Eintracht Frankfurt today, who knows?) and have FC Copenhagen vs Galatasaray end in a draw. If either of those two win in Denmark, even victory at Old Trafford will only be good enough for third place and a Europa League play-off against one of its eight group runners-up in February to decide who reaches that competition’s round of 16.
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(Top photo: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
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