As pressure mounts on Erik ten Hag’s depleted team, Manchester United lost for the third time in a row against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Manchester United lost to Bayern Munich on the road for the third time in a row and the fourth time overall this season.
What on paper appeared to be an impossible job for United turned out to be true as Bayern overcame a promising start by Erik ten Hag’s team to grab the lead just before the half-hour mark after Andre Onana made a terrible error that allowed Leroy Sane’s goal to slip through him.
Four minutes later, United gave up a second goal when Jamal Musiala’s amazing run saw him rush into the penalty area before cutting back to Serge Gnabry, who scored to give the hosts a double-digit advantage.
Ten Hag sent his side out five minutes early from half-time and it paid dividends as Rasmus Hojlund turned in his first United goal just minutes into the second half to give them hope in Bavaria.
But a ludicrous decision from VAR to award a penalty after the ball struck an unknowing Christian Eriksen’s hand from just a yard away saw Harry Kane get his goal and kill the game.
A goal-mad final few minutes saw Casemiro score two consolation goals either side of Mathys Tel’s clinching goal, with the game eventually ending 4-3 to the hosts.
Following the latest damaging defeat, Daily Star Sport looks at what Ten Hag needs to address immediately ahead of Saturday night’s trip to Burnley in the Premier League.
midfield harmony
In the 3-1 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion over the weekend, Casemiro was horribly exposed, and the Brazilian was left hanging again as Jamal Musiala had a memorable night playing off the 31-year-old’s shoulder and constantly trying to take him on.
Casemiro was frequently left alone on a night when United knew they would be up against it, especially in midfield with Harry Kane also going deeper, and the game was over by the time Scott McTominay was substituted with 20 minutes remaining.
When Sofyan Amrabat becomes available to share some of Casemiro’s responsibilities, Ten Hag must be counting down the minutes.
It’s difficult to pinpoint Christian Eriksen’s position on the United side. The 31-year-old, who has made a name for himself as a playmaker, appears to have been assigned a job that is practically box-to-box and entirely exposes his defensive flaws, which once again caused United to struggle.
Fans will wonder why Eriksen was the closest player to Dayot Upamecano, one of Bayern’s most potent aerial threats. Eriksen’s involvement in the absurd penalty decision won’t be questioned.
Eriksen nearly assisted United in opening the scoring after only three minutes as he squared to Facundo Pellistri across the goal face before an Alphonso Davies save cleared the danger. Eriksen, however, appeared to be a square peg on a team whose primary playmaker is Bruno Fernandes.
Off the bench, too little, too late
Even though Ten Hag had a bench that had three goalkeepers and three youngsters, the Dutchman didn’t start Alejandro Garnacho and Antony Martial until the game had already started to veer away from United in the 80th minute.
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