As has so frequently been the case under Erik ten Hag’s tenure, Manchester United’s performance tonight left a lot to be desired.
Now winless in their first three Europa League group-stage matches, the Reds find themselves 21st-placed in the new-look rankings, sandwiched between Viktoria Plzen and IF Elfsborg.
In fact, United have been winless in European competitions, as a whole, for 12 months, with their last victory coming one year ago today when they overturned FC Copenhagen in last season’s Champions League group stage. The result would go on to be their only win in that phase of the competition, consequently seeing them knocked out at the earliest stage.
This season, the side have taken the lead in each of their opening three matches against FC Twente, Porto and Fenerbahce respectively, before being held to draws by the full-time whistle.
Manuel Ugarte a standout performer on the night for lacklustre United
While it may be a challenge for fans to find any positives from tonight’s showing in Istanbul, one is undoubtedly that Manuel Ugarte looks to have finally found his feet after a tricky start to life as a Red.
He was initially utilised sparingly following his deadline-day move from Paris Saint-Germain, but with the club forking out a whopping £42 million to sanction his arrival, supporters were expecting him to have an instant impact on United’s floundering midfield.
His performance against the Turkish outfit was perhaps the kind of relentless showing that caught the eye of transfer chiefs last season; in the first 45 minutes, Ugarte recorded a 100 per cent take-on success rate, an 86 per cent passing accuracy, four tackles and one goal-line clearance, per StatmanDave.
The ‘absolutely key’ Uruguayan’s valiant efforts to win possession deep in his own half before dispatching a line-breaking pass ended up influential to Christian Eriksen’s opening goal, which was ultimately rendered in vain when Youssef En-Nesyri levelled the scoring shortly after the interval.
