Manchester United have struggled once again, but they once more managed to get themselves out of a tough situation. The Red Devils drew 2-2 in Italy against Atalanta in the fourth round of group stage, after Cristiano Ronaldo’s yet another heroic performance.
Atalanta were twice in the lead, once through Josip Ilicic and the other time thanks to Duvan Zapata, but it was the legendary Portuguese who equalised in each of the two stoppage times – first at the end of the first half and then to salvage a point 91 minutes into the game. Here is what we learned from this hard fought draw.
Cristiano Keeps Saving United, But For How Long?
It has happened once again – Cristiano Ronaldo has saved Manchester United in the Champions League. He did in the dying minutes of the Villarreal clash, he scored the winning goal in the first match against Atalanta and now he earned a brace which gave the Devils a much needed point. It just keeps on happening, but for how long will that bring some results to this Solskjaer’s side? United struggled in this match, had plenty of defensive problems and those keep happening in each and every Champions League match. It is just that Ronaldo’s goals are saving United and papering over the cracks that are United’s overall performances in the Champions League this season.
New System Does Not Mask Problems In Defence
Solskjaer decided for the match against Spurs to select a team with a three-man defence and it worked. United won 3-0 against a poor side that failed to threaten them and, expectedly, Solskjaer thought he found a solution for defensive problems. Except, he has not. Man United started with the same system, with three centre-backs, but struggled heavily. Both goals United conceded came from the right, where Bailly and Wan-Bissaka did not function well together and for this team will not be enough to simply stuff more defensive players in order to make this team more resilient and better organised. More nuanced is needed than that.
Pogba Still Creates Problems
When Paul Pogba plays well, that can be seen easily, but when he plays badly, the Frenchman is the player everyone can see making plenty of mistakes throughout the match. That was the case here as well. He was not good in possession, he was giving the ball to Atalanta way to easily and his defensive contributions several years since his arrival keep giving Man United more questions they are not answering rather than actually bringing some answers to how to stop making the same mistakes.
Late Goals Put United In Good Position
Thanks to Ronaldo’s late goal, Man United are now second in their group after four rounds of matches, with seven points, as many as Villarreal have. Atalanta are in third place with five and Man United should be in a good position to top this group. It sounds simple to win against Young Boys and Villarreal, or possibly even just get four points if the Spaniards do not beat Atalanta, but simple things have not been Man United’s thing in the past few years. This side should remain very focused, as they have struggled in all four of their matches. It is just that they somehow managed to win two of them, mostly thanks to Ronaldo’s late heroics…
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