Yet another dull and disappointing night at Old Trafford has left the United faithful distraught and the look on everyone’s face as the game ended at 0-0 pretty much summed it up. Something has got to give. This mediocrity is unbecoming of a United side.
Mourinho’s men looked focused for the first 10 minutes of the game before all of that enthusiasm evaporated and they slipped right back into the sort of form that has seen them not win once over the last 4 games.
Neither team created any clear-cut chances with the closest United coming to goal being a freekick from the left side of the area that Rashford used to scrape the paint on the crossbar with.
Valencia failed to proffer anything of note in their final third and wasted several opportunities that a better team would have put away.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the 3 reasons why Manchester United drew with Valencia:
A midfield trio of Nemanja Vidic, Marouane Fellaini and Paul Pogba doesn’t work
It’s clear as daylight that Mourinho does not trust his centre-backs. That is perhaps why he feels the need to overcompensate in defensive midfield and this has often stifled United’s vigour going forward.
Having Nemanja Matic and Marouane Fellaini running things from deep is like driving a car around with 2 flat tyres. Matic and Fellaini were extremely slow on the ball, almost often delaying crucial passes by 3 or 4 seconds, allowing the Valencia players to get back into position.
The sheer immobility in United’s midfield also led to the growth in space between defence and midfield and against a better opposition, United would have suffered.
What’s even more baffling was Mourinho’s persistence in keeping the midfield undisturbed even as the game looked primed to finish 0-0. If the United gaffer is still trying to make a point to Woodward, he is writing a script to a story that was finished long time ago.
Right now, what United need is a dynamic midfield that can turn up the pace and take the game to the opposition. And the more defensive midfielders we see in their lineup, the worse it’s going to be watching the Red Devils labour through games.
Valencia’s wastefulness
The reason why Valencia have scored only 5 goals so far this season was laid bare. They are good when it comes to building attacks and at times, they even got behind the United defence. But the utter lack of quality from there is embarrassing to watch.
Guedes was often afforded acres of space and he very seldom made anything of it. Rodrigo looks stripped of his abilities as soon as he enters the danger zones. Batshuayi’s finishing was off too.
Marcelino desperately needs his players to up their games in the zones where it matters. This was Valencia’s best chance at regaining lost momentum but they could not capitalize on it. If United were facing a much better side in terms of quality and precision in or around the box, this could have been another embarrassing defeat for them.
Manchester United look clueless in the final third
Romelu Lukaku looks a shadow of the player he promised to be during his initial days at Old Trafford. He hardly ever completes a dribble or gets the beating of an opponent, does not make his presence felt aerially, his hold up play continues to be poor, the by product of which kept Sanchez and Rashford from thriving.
Alexis Sanchez is mostly unwilling to take on defenders or shift to 4th gear and bring some intensity into the game. As soon as he gets the ball, he looks up and plays a long, speculative ball.
Marcus Rashford was United’s only source of threat going forward. Rashford does not mind stirring his stumps and he never shied away from testing the keeper from range. However, there seems to be no cohesion up front and the front 3 are as disjointed as the islands of Indonesia.
Though a few Paul Pogba balls should have been treated better, United definitely look like a team that forgot the blueprint at home on their way to the construction site.