It’s another European football season and Manchester United were once again left disappointed as they failed to qualify for the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League knockouts. The Premier League side crashed to a 0-1 defeat against Bayern Munich, finishing bottom of Group A with only four points in six matches (one win, one draw and four defeats).
United have lost 12 of their opening 24 matches of this season, and have also ended their League Cup defence. In the Premier League, they are currently sixth in the standings, putting further doubt on Erik ten Hag’s future as manager. Kingsley Coman scored the winner in the 71st-minute for Bayern, who finished on top of Group A. It was a rather one-sided encounter as United failed to dominate in all departments.
Speaking on TNT Sports after the match, United legend Rio Ferdinand criticised the club and lashed out at their European record. “Very disappointing, to say the least. When that group came out, you would have expected Man Utd to go through. To score three goals in each of their away games and come away with the points that they did is criminal really.”
“When you score that many goals in the group stage – scored 12 and conceded 15 – there lies your problem. It’s kamikaze football, basketball football. You attack, we attack, and see who comes out on top. You get what you deserve. If you’re not clinical, you can’t close matches out, you don’t deserve to progress to the knockout stages,” he further added.
Meanwhile, Paul Scholes, who was Ferdinand’s teammate during their professional careers, also criticised Ten Hag’s side. “I agree with that, it’s been a really poor campaign. It started with the Galatasaray game at home, as soon as you lose a home game in the group stages you’re struggling, you’re really up against it,” he said.
“But after that, in some games they looked very good. They were getting leads in games, two-goal leads, but just couldn’t manage to see games out. Tonight was probably the most disciplined performance of all of them. I don’t know how intense Bayern were, it’s difficult to say. But you never really felt tonight that Man Utd were going to score goals,” he further added.
To make matters worse, United are up against league leaders Liverpool in their next match, scheduled for Sunday at Anfield. A defeat could further dent their confidence, but a win could see them stage a comeback.
