Nothing summed up the hopelessness of Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer more than the first 13 minutes of their 3-2 Champions League defeat to RB Leipzig.
The early stages of a football match at any level are normally pretty cagey with each sides sizing the other up. Add to that the fact that United only required a draw to progress into the knockout stages and it would have taken a brave person to bet on their being an early goal in this one.
Yet, with less than 120 seconds on the clock, the ball was in the Red Devils’ net.
There is a lot of blame to go around for this. Let’s start off with Aaron Wan-Bissaka – who has been having a fine season so far, making his lapses in concentration tonight all the more surprising.
Despite the goalscorer, Angelino, possessing hands, feet, legs, arm and a face – all the hallmarks of your average human – Wan-Bissaka decided not to treat him as such, letting Marcel Sabitzer’s cross reach him completely unmarked at the back post.
In the United right-back’s defence, a significant portion of the blame should also be attributed to the man responsible for setting the team up tactically. Flying full-backs or wing-backs have been a key feature of Leipzig’s game this season. Despite this, there was little to suggest that Solskjaer had prepared or adequately coached his players for this eventuality.
Sure, the addition of Alex Telles in an advanced left sided position may make it seem like this was the case but in the practice, did the Brazilian really end up offering Luke Shaw all that much protection?
He certainly did not for Leipzig’s second goal which came just 11 minutes later and was a near carbon copy of the first. Angelino was again key, taking up a position on the edge the box to receive another of Sabitzer’s trademark diagonal passes, which took the congested United midfield and defence out of the game.
Taking just one touch to set himself, he floated over a cross to Leipzig’s other wing-back Amadou Haidara, who vollied home emphatically. Where were Shaw and Telles? Nowhere to be seen, part of an anonymous mass of black shirts who seemed determined not to mark anyone throughout proceedings.
Both goals made for box office viewing for the neutral but United fans were not laughing. They were sighing – and these sighs turned to screams when some more players contrived to put on a defensive horrorshow of their own.
The calamities started 20 minutes from time when Victor Lindelof gave the ball away sloppily just outside his own area. Soon after, a painfully slow cross came in from that man again, Angelino. For whatever reason, neither Lindelof, nor Harry Maguire, nor David de Gea fancied clearing their lines which afforded Justin Kluivert the chance to grab Leipzig’s third goal.
Ignore their late rally, all three of the goals were unforgivable in a game of this magnitude and speaks volumes of the problems that have infested United for some time.
Tactical naivety, some players not being up to scratch for the level and weak leadership all played a role in the club crashing out of the Champions League. Not for the first time in recent months, serious questions need to be asked about where the Red Devils are heading.