Manchester United simply cannot get on a longer winning streak these days, as their Premier League performances away from home continue showing the issues with the squad and manager. This time they drew 3-3 against Sheffield United. In a crazy match with a big comeback, the Devils still managed to get the feeling of losing the points rather than winning one.
It was John Fleck who scored the opener for the hosts, before Lys Mousset double Sheffield United’s lead in the second half. Then, in what felt like the old Sir Alex days, Man United scored three goals through Brandon Williams, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford in the span of just seven minutes. However, that was not enough, since it was Oli McBurnie who buried it home for a late equalizer.
Solskjaer Shows Ineptitude
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer showed us a few times that there is a reason why he never worked at such a huge club like Man United before arriving last December and he unfortunately showed that today once again. His decision throughout the match felt to be almost undermining the team, especially when he decided to substitute Anthony Martial in order to defend the 3-2 lead.
That simply backfired, with Man United losing the momentum against a side that was completely panicking at that point. It was maybe a pragmatic move, but one that maybe should not have been done against Sheffield United.
The Comeback Highlights Problems
Manchester United’s seven-minute comeback which has seen three goals scored by the team’s youngsters, still highlighted some of the negatives in the team. It was only then, when it really looked like there was no hope of getting a result that the players started swarming the Blades and frantically making them make mistakes.
Everything went right for Man United in that timespan and the bigger question is how the players allowed themselves to be so poor for the first 70 minutes of the match.
Change Of Formation Brings Nothing
Solskjaer decided before the match to play in a 3-4-2-1 formation, in order to (almost) match Chris Wilder’s system, but that did not work out. Just the simple fact that his team played with three centre-backs and still conceded three goals is enough in itself, but also the early subbing off of Phil Jones shows the manager did not get many things right on the day.
It only gave Sheffield United the chance to play against essentially a two-man midfield of Fred and Andreas Pereira.
Young Guns The Bright Light
The goals from Rashford, Williams and Greenwood are the reason why many Man United fans will be hopeful about this team despite the result or overall performance. The energy and the drive these players – alongside a couple more – showed in crucial moments of the match brought chills to the spine and that is what the Devils will want to see from their players.
Marcus Rashford continued his goalscoring form, as he keeps showing everyone that he can be the man to lead the team throughout the season, despite still being just 22.
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