Stars of yesteryear come back to haunt Solskjaer and Man United
Basaksehir's Demba Ba, left, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal. Pictures: AP
Manchester United have long since been guilty of living off former glories but in Istanbul tonight it was a line-up of Premier League stars of yesteryear who nudged Ole Gunnar Solskjaer deeper into crisis.
Former United right-back Rafael, Liverpool stopper Martin Skrtel and ex-Chelsea striker Demba Ba helped mastermind an end to United’s 10-game winning streak away from Old Trafford.
That away form, and two Champions League group wins in two games, were all that separated Solskjaer from full-blown crisis but even that buffer has been removed following this limp and chaotic performance.
Solskjaer described the goals his team conceded as “unforgivable.” It was hard to disagree.
“It’s not easy to be positive now,” said Solskjaer. Of course it isn’t when you’ve just lost the way we did.
“But these players are good players and we have a chance on Saturday to get going again.”
Basaksehir had never scored a Champions League goal or collected a point before this game. They have now, and Solskjaer needs to come up with answers very quickly for that Everton game, even if Anthony Martial’s late first half goal gave United a foothold.
There was a heart stopping moment for the hosts in the 92nd minute when Harry Maguire’s goalbound header was cleared off the line spectacularly by man of the match Alexandre Epureanu. But a United reprieve would have been totally unjust.
“The performance wasn’t good enough,” said Solskjaer. “This sets us back a lot, of course it has.
“You get a reality check every time you play a game here. Nothing becomes history quicker than a game of football, you don’t just turn up and get three points. That showed it today.”Â
On a night Dean Henderson was making his United debut, the two goals he conceded were, through no fault of his, shambolic and brought back memories of that nightmare home defeat to Spurs last month.
More alarmingly, they were down to individual mistakes which would put a schoolboy team to shame and which, in the first instance, bordered on the comical.
United were attacking, deep in home territory, after 12 minutes when a cross was intercepted by Edin Visca who spotted what no United player had done - that Ba was completely unchaperoned just inside the Basaksehir half.
The midfielder punted a long ball forward and the 35-year-old striker was off to the races, sprinting half the length of the field - Nemanja Matic gamely giving chase but trailing in his wake - before easily converting past the new United keeper.
It was almost unprecedented stuff, no United player marking the lone striker when, normally, two should have been hovering around him to nullify any danger of the counter. In his 101st game in charge of United, Solskjaer could manage for 10 times that number and not concede such an amateurish goal.
There was more of the same when Basaksehir doubled their lead five minutes before the interval, a move started when Juan Mata was bullied off the ball in midfield by Deniz Turuc who promptly headed down the left wing.
His cross was superbly dummied by Ba - a move that put an inattentive Harry Maguire out of the play - and the ball ran to Visca who finished lethally from 15 yards.
It was defending, discipline and concentration that was stunning in its incompetence and did not reflect well on Solskjaer who, for all he could point to individual errors, had to be held accountable for basic organisational flaws.
“The first one, we play a short corner and forget about the man up top, that’s unforgivable,” said Solskjaer. “The second one as well, we’re not very well organised.” It needed a response, a swift one, and fortunately for United it came within three minutes and sent them in at the half trailing by just a goal.
It was a routine effort with Luke Shaw, as he had tried to do all half, attacking down the left and crossing into the area where Martial had split the central defenders and was able to head in from eight yards.
That was a rare moment of quality for United in the first half and, by the interval, Solskjaer knew he had to alter things dramatically at the back.
Axel Tuanzebe was the scapegoat, although Solskjaer could reasonably have pointed the finger at his club captain Maguire as he moved Matic into the centre of defence and threw substitute Scott McTominay into midfield.
There was, at last, an improvement, thanks largely to Bruno Fernandes who threatened three times in five minutes, starting just before the hour when his 18-yard free-kick forced Mert Gunok into a flying save.
He followed it with a long shot which deflected just wide via Skrtel and a skilful run to the edge of the area where another attempt was blocked and flew just wide.
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