What went wrong for United on Saturday

Manchester United lost 2-1 to Manchester City in the F.A. Cup final last saturday. For Ten Hag’s men, it’s a disappointing end to what was a solid first season in charge. With multiple starters being ruled out for the game, Ten Hag played the strongest 11 he could, but the performance was abysmal.

Ten Hag’s instructions for his defense were clear: stop the front three, and they did. Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, and Jack Grealish were kept quiet by the United back line. The problem, however, was not the defense. You could argue that De Gea should’ve saved the second goal, but the shot went through a crowd and that’s always difficult for a keeper. Varane and Lindelof were all over Haaland and he could barely get a touch on the ball in the United box. Wan Bissake did very well against Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva didn’t make a big impact.

The problem was in the midfield. Fred was given the task to mark Kevin De Bruyne because he did so well in United’s 2-1 win at Old Trafford marking De Bruyne. On Saturday, Fred was all over the place. No matter how hard he tried, he could not handle De Bruyne and made it easier for the City midfielder to beat the helpless United midfielder. As Fred struggled to keep De Bruyne quiet, it meant Casemiro had to help him and double mark the Belgian which then left Gundogen open all game. Ten Hag should have let Casemiro mark De Bruyne and have Fred mark Gundogen.

(Image via Manchester City)

Ilkay Gundogen is so underrated that he is left open, leading to Man City goals. Every team is so fixated on Haaland and De Bruyne that they forget that Gundogen is one of the main goal threats. We saw this happen again on Saturday as Gundogen had the freedom of the whole Wembley field to himself.

The other alarming issue was the attack. The attack was listless, the strikers appearing more like a pack of zombies than Red Devils. The loss of Martial was detrimental because United were practically playing with 10 men, Rashford and Sancho were a ghost the whole game. It wasn’t until Wan Bissaka won a penalty when United had some goal threat. After the penalty, United went quiet. The introduction of Alexandro Garnacho sparked something in the attack but this is Manchester United, a teenager shouldn’t pose the most goal threat in a cup final. The Red Devils’ need for a striker was evident once again this season.

Manchester City was always going to be the favorites against United, but The Red Devils had to do more in that game. If reports are true that the Glazers are staying at the club with new owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, it’s essential that they spend big this summer since the fans will be furious that they are staying. The starting 11 currently for United are the same players that were horrendous last season under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick. Ten Hag has performed a miracle, finishing 3rd with a Carabao Cup trophy this season, but this group of players are not good enough to challenge for the major prizes in world football, it’s time to spend some money this summer.