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It is fair to say that Manchester United’s season – and their hopes of Champions League progression – currently lie in tatters, with the Red Devils having reached a new nadir following the 3-2 defeat at home to Galatasaray on Tuesday evening.
At one stage it had looked as if the Old Trafford outfit would surge to a much-needed victory after Rasmus Hojlund grabbed his second of the night with a breathtaking solo goal, yet – as has become the norm for Erik ten Hag and his men – the hosts simply shot themselves in the foot amid a dismal late collapse.
The major culprit in that drastic turn of events was Andre Onana, with the £47.2m summer signing having almost gifted the visitors an equaliser just moments after Hojlund’s second-half strike after flapping at a driven cross, before then playing Casemiro into trouble with the game at 2-2 – leading to the Brazilian’s subsequent dismissal after he was forced to give away a spot-kick.
Despite seeing Mauro Icardi lash his penalty wide of the post, Onana’s woes only worsened as he was far too easily beaten by the Argentine’s tame dink just minutes later, the Cameroonian producing an unconvincing attempt to save that lofted effort.
While the 27-year-old goalkeeper has hardly been helped by the shortcomings of those ahead of him – with the backline currently ravaged by injury – such high-profile errors are becoming a real theme, with it perhaps time that Ten Hag considers ousting his former Ajax asset from the starting XI.
Should Andre Onana be dropped?
Publicly, the United boss has offered his backing to what he described as “one of the best goalkeepers in the world”, yet privately it would be no surprise if the Dutchman was considering making a ruthless change, with Altay Bayindir waiting in the wings.
The former Inter Milan stopper was notably undone earlier this season against Nottingham Forest after failing to prevent Taiwo Awoniyi’s strike, while also making a significant blunder in the loss to Bayern Munich last month, after allowing Leroy Sane’s effort to squirm under him.
That error appeared to knock the stuffing out of United at the Allianz Arena following an initial bright start, with that having been a similar story last night, as Onana almost singlehandedly put the pressure onto his teammates, at a time when the home side had begun to find their groove.
The obvious impact that those howlers are having on the rest of the team should ensure that the £120k-per-week enigma is ousted from the side for the short-term, at least, with GOAL’s Richard Martin writing that he ‘transmitted nerves, not confidence’ against the Turkish outfit.
With that being said, however, laying the blame solely at Onana’s door would both be unfair and misleading, with other members of the United squad also currently in the firing line – such as last season’s talisman, Marcus Rashford.
How did Marcus Rashford perform against Galatasaray?
It had initially been a bright start to proceedings for the England international, as he teed up Hojlund for the game’s opening goal with a wonderful thumping cross that perfectly found the head of the charging, towering Dane.
That moment of quality came amid what was ultimately another limp showing from the 25-year-old, however, with the academy graduate having been “poor again” in his left-wing berth, as per talkSPORT reporter, Alex Crook.
Also dubbed an “under-performer” by Crook, the fleet-footed forward looks like a player who is simply devoid of confidence at present, having notably spurned a chance to shoot in the second half, only to then fail to pick out Bruno Fernandes with a tame cutback.
The Rashford of last season – who netted 30 goals in all competitions – would likely have thumped that effort goalwards with little thought, yet such are his current struggles, the misfiring marksman opted for the safe option instead.
On a night in which young Hojlund truly illustrated the full array of his talents with a ‘terrific all-round centre forward performance’ – as per Manchester Evening News journalist, Samuel Luckhurst – Rashford, meanwhile, showed little of the player that dazzled earlier this year, having even been withdrawn for Alejandro Garnacho in the closing stages.
Prior to that early exit, the 55-cap international had lost possession on 16 occasions, been offside twice and won just four of his eight total duels, having got little change out of former Arsenal target, Sacha Boey, down the left wing.
How has Rashford performed this season?
That errant and understated performance from Rashford follows a trend that has emerged throughout the season so far, with the £300k-per-week speedster having scored just once this term in all competitions, with that coming in the defeat away to the Gunners.
In truth, the wideman has not looked like his usual self since the start of the campaign at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, with former United defender Paul Parker having stated at the time:
“With Marcus Rashford he can score goals but people that watch people without rose-tinted glasses know he doesn’t do enough when he’s got the ball. He gives it away cheaply. Tries to go into the cul de sac with so many parked cars in it. And when he loses the ball he does one or two things. He falls down and holds any part of his body or he just walks back.”
As another former Red Devils man stated – Louis Saha – Rashford needs to step up and be a “leader” in the side, alongside the likes of Fernandes and Casemiro, although at present he looks more like a shrinking violet, as Saha noted:
“At this moment, he’s displaying poor decision making and an example of this is that he’s dribbling at times when he should be looking to make a pass instead. He needs confidence and the same can be said for many of the players at the club currently because many of them going forward aren’t making the right decisions in the final third.”
While previously something of an undroppable asset under Ten Hag, the emergence of Garnacho has provided the Englishman with a direct rival on the left flank, with it perhaps time that it is the teenager who is given a run of games in that starting berth.
Having been rewarded for last season’s fine form with a bumper new deal over the summer, Rashford needs to prove that he still has that fire in his belly to be the main man at the Theatre of Dreams.
On current evidence, it doesn’t look like he has…