Manchester United suffered yet another home defeat, this time a 3-2 loss at the hands of Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday, Abbeylivenetwork.com reports.
The Turkish giants created history as they won on English soil for the first time in their history and the result heaped even more pressure on manager Erik ten Hag.
United remain on 0 points and are in last place in Group A and look to be in danger of missing out on qualifying for the knockout stages.
Injuries have dented the team’s prospects without a doubt but the mentality of the team and the underperforming big names is a bigger worry for the manager.
Poor from Rashford again
Marcus Rashford, who has been criticised for his poor start to the campaign, created the opening goal by passing to Rasmus Hojlund instead of shooting on his own, but his poor decision-making cost his side dearly in the second half.
Instead of taking a shot with only the goalkeeper to beat, he ended up passing to Bruno Fernandes and the ball was cut out. That bit of play showed how he is suffering from a lack of confidence at the moment.
United conceded the first equaliser after six minutes of scoring and the second one four minutes after Hojlund’s brace. Concentration is clearly not there, especially from the big stars.
The biggest worry for Ten Hag is the form of Casemiro and Andre Onana. The Cameroonian, brought in for his superior passing out from the back, has been a liability so far at his new home.
His failed pass saw Casemiro see red and concede a penalty from which Galatasaray could not capitalise. But then he made it easy for Mauro Icardi to chip him to score the winner.
His shot-stopping remains suspect and the cons are far outweighing the pros at the moment. David de Gea’s shot-stopping ability, on most days, was superior to Onana’s.
As for Casemiro, he keeps trying to be the most creative outlet and abandons his post almost every time and that is allowing the opposition to score from cutbacks time and again this season as was the case with Gala’s second.
Without a creative presence in midfield, like Christian Eriksen, the Brazilian tries to play first-time passes on each occasion and it is clear to see that the ploy is not working.
Casemiro, Onana need to be dropped at this stage
At this stage, Ten Hag needs to take a few tough calls. If Sergio Reguilon is available, Sofyan Amrabat should come in as the defensive midfielder and allow Casemiro to play alongside him or take a break.
Alejandro Garnacho could be a better option at this stage as compared to Rashford while one of Tom Heaton or Altay Bayindir needs minutes, just to take Onana off the firing line.
Onana and Casemiro cost a lot and Ten Hag’s prestige could be on the line but a change is required one way or the other.
Injuries and lack of options are clearly hurting the Dutchman but it could be time to shake up the hierarchy and show everyone that nobody’s place is certain.
