2024-10-25 23:15:05
Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by Fenerbahce on Thursday night.
The visitors opened the scoring in the 15th minute through Christian Eriksen, who finished a sweeping move up the pitch. Fenerbahce pushed for a leveller in the first half, but were denied by an incredible double save from Andre Onana.
After the break, they managed to get the equaliser as Youssef En-Nesyri connected with a header and managed to beat Onana.
Former United manager Jose Mourinho was shown a red card during the second half after heavily protesting the referee’s decision to not award a penalty, but his team held out for a draw.
Here, The Athletic’s experts Carl Anka and Anantaajith Raghuraman analyse the game.
United’s worrying trend of conceding shortly after restarts continued against Fenerbahce. This time, Allan Saint-Maximin drove down the right before his cross found En-Nesyri.
The time of goal? 48 minutes and 39 seconds. Erik ten Hag’s response? Substituting Joshua Zirkzee and Victor Lindelof for Rasmus Hojlund and Casemiro. The changes saw United resort to their familiar style of play, for better and worse. Eriksen pulled the strings in the final third while Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte sat deep. Ugarte had his best performance in a United shirt — and it was needed. United’s game plan to bait Fenerbahce’s press before hitting the ball quickly down the wings lacked the edge that powered the strong performance in Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Brentford.
A disappointing performance from Diogo Dalot, who was caught out of position multiple times at right-back, further hampered the team’s fluency on both sides of the ball. That inability to control the game can be seen in The Athletic’s match dashboard below.
Ten Hag’s men have not won away from home in Europe since March 2023, a 1-0 victory at Real Betis. United did not look like conceding a second, but it was also difficult to see how they might score a winner. A late injury to substitute Antony meant Amad was a late throw of the dice, but United lack bodies and confidence in attack. As Amad and Eriksen stood over a late free kick, with United bodies loaded in the box, there was more hope than expectation. Eriksen’s set piece was cleared at the first attempt.
A third consecutive draw leaves United in the bottom half of the Europa League’s ‘league phase’ table. They have a fight on their hands to rise out of the play-off qualification places and head towards the seeded positions.
Carl Anka
Onana came to Manchester United’s rescue with around eight minutes left in the first half, just moments after Victor Lindelof’s well-timed tackle blocked an effort from En-Nesyri. The resulting corner was played short and then cleared before Fenerbahce recycled it to Sebastian Szymanski on the left. Poor communication among United defenders meant he received the ball in acres of space.
Dusan Tadic flicked on Szymanski’s whipped cross towards En-Nesyri, who forced a brilliant diving save from Onana despite the United goalkeeper’s initial movement in the other direction.
Tadic hooked the second ball back to En-Nesyri for another header from point-blank range but again, Onana reacted brilliantly to get his fingertips to the ball and direct it onto the roof of the net.
The pair of saves kept United’s lead intact heading into half-time and will be among the season’s best goalkeeping moments. The closest challenger so far might be another of Onana’s double saves, which came against Crystal Palace in the Premier League last month. It was also comparable to David Raya’s fantastic save for Arsenal against Atalanta in the Champions League last month. The Spaniard denied Mateo Retegui from a penalty kick by diving low to his right before getting back on his feet to leap to his left and deny Retegui’s follow-up header.
Onana’s intervention was pivotal for United in a game where the margins for error remained low right until the end.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
A yellow-card suspension meant United were without their captain and talisman Bruno Fernandes, but Ten Hag sprung a surprise by opting for Noussair Mazraoui as his playmaking replacement, rather than Eriksen or Amad.
“He’s capable of coming there,” was the United manager’s explanation before kick-off. “He can do good pressing. Then we can see during the game what is needed. We can go with him maybe in another position, and we can put a more offensive player in that position, or bring in a more defensive midfielder and bring Casemiro in.”
Mazraoui — who played as a No 10 during his academy days — did not take to the role in quite the same manner as Fernandes. This was not the creative hub around which United’s other attacking bodies orbit, but instead something of a second striker. The 26-year-old was an extra body to help with the team’s front press and played simple passes when United entered the final third.
United’s opening goal came from a quick counter-attack after Ugarte won the ball high up the field. Alejandro Garnacho carried the ball excellently down the left before his low cross found the feet of Mazraoui. The Morocco international offered a simple wall pass to Zirkzee, who then laid it off to Eriksen at the edge of the box. Eriksen’s shot found the top-left corner and United were away.
Occasionally, Mazraoui reminded us why he is not an attacking midfielder by trade. One heavy pass in the 19th minute opened United up for a counter-attack, from which Tadic shot on goal (tamely). At half-time, it looked as if Ten Hag’s experiment had worked. Five minutes after that, Fenerbahce’s second-half equaliser saw the United manager bring on Casemiro to bolster his midfield and moved Eriksen to the No 10 role and Mazraoui to left-back.
It is unlikely Ten Hag will repeat the trick for Sunday’s fixture against West Ham United, but for around 50 minutes, Mazraoui did a passable job as a No 10.
Carl Anka
In his fourth start of the season, Ugarte displayed some of the qualities that persuaded United to sign him this summer. Eriksen’s presence and the relative success of the Mazraoui experiment meant Ugarte didn’t need to progress the ball, so he could focus instead on recycling possession and slowing down the game’s tempo.
He had a couple of iffy moments in the game’s opening period but settled in well and played an important role in the opener — but his best moment came a few minutes later. Onana palmed Szymanski’s cross straight to Tadic, but Ugarte raced back and dived in to block Tadic’s effort with his foot, much to the delight of his team-mates.
A few more important defensive interventions and neat pass exchanges helped United see out the half with a lead. One of those saw him keep pace with Fred throughout a Fenerbahce counter in the 34th minute to nullify him as a pass receiver, forcing Tadic back and giving United’s defence time to get themselves organised.
Even after Fenerbahce’s goal, Ugarte remained one of United’s better defensive players. He ended the match with four clearances and three interceptions, both of which were team-high marks. The Uruguay midfielder also completed 88 per cent of his passes and made two tackles. It wasn’t a perfect performance, however, as he gave away possession five times and committed four fouls but, as can be seen from his player dashboard below, this was a step in the right direction.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Ten Hag spoke about the injury suffered by Antony after the game. The winger ended up leaving the stadium in a protective boot.
“It’s really unlucky for him,” he said, as reported by manutd.com. “I feel real compassion for him, when he worked so hard in training.
“His training performances are that good that he deserved to come on. When you have to come off so quickly, that is really sad to see. Hopefully, it’s not too bad, we have to wait 24 hours for what the assessment is.”
Sunday, October 27: West Ham (away), Premier League, 4.30pm UK time, 12.30am ET
(Top photo: Ahmad Mora – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
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