After a disastrous derby day defeat, Manchester United traveled to Cyprus for their Europa League game against Omonia. Manchester United left a lot to be desired and trailed 1-0 at halftime before a Marcus Rashford brace and an Anthony Martial strike put Manchester United 1-3 up. Omonia scored with 5 minutes to go to make it 2-3 and set up a nervy ending. Fortunately for the Red Devils, they held on to the lead but should not have made life this difficult.
Here are five major takeaways from Manchester United’s Clash with Omonia:
An Ever-Increasing Problem With Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is becoming more of an issue for United than ever before. During the game, players created several chances to help him score. It is concerning as it shows the team catering too much toward Ronaldo. He also missed a couple of massive opportunities and should have at least scored a brace. One that comes to mind was the open goal he missed in the 77th minute. He just needed to open up his body for the finish instead of smashing the ball.
Ronaldo showed that he is losing his first touch and is lacking variety in his finishing.
Omonia had a field day against United’s defense
The Manchester Derby at the Etihad, seen as a great leveler, didn’t go according to plan. Manchester United leaked six goals against Man City but conceding two against Omonia is even worse. Omonia was on the counterattack for the first goal after Malacia was put under pressure by Bruno Felipe. Bruno Felipe then played in Karim Ansarifard, who smashed the ball home. For the second goal, Omonia cut through Manchester United’s defense like a hot knife through butter before Kakouliiis squared the ball for Panagiotou, who fired past David De Gea.
Impactful Subs
Martial and Rashford turned the game in Manchester United’s favor when they came on. Rashford scored two goals and got an assist, while Martial scored a minute after coming on. A Bruno long ball found Rashford, who turned and shot for the equalizer. Rashford combined well with Ronaldo before tapping in at the near post following Ronaldo’s low diagonal cross. Lisandro Martinez found Rashford, who flicked it on to Martial to drill a shot into the bottom corner.
Manchester United was wasteful
Manchester United missed costly chances. Ronaldo tested the keeper as early as the ninth minute, while Anthony had a shot that curled into the top corner had the keeper not tipped it over the bar. Ronaldo’s open goal miss was the most notable chance missed. If you fail to take your chances, the opposition teams will attempt to come back into the game.
Martinez’s range of passing is crucial
Lisandro Martinez’s range of passing was good . He opened up the field with his passing range. The passion turned out to be crucial in the build-up to Martial’s goal.
This asset in his game makes up for him not being the tallest, and he ended the first half as Man United’s best attacker.