Manchester United are now out of the Champions League and have recorded their worst ever points total in the process after losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich at Old Trafford. The performance wasn’t too bad to be truthful, but United were playing against a Bayern side who had nothing to play for as they had already sealed top spot in the group. This result again puts pressure back onto Erik Ten Hag who risks being relieved of his duties due to United losing out on millions thanks to their early exit from Europe’s elite competition.
The simple fact is that Manchester United should have qualified from this group considering that they faced Copenhagen, who have only qualified for the competition in four out of the last ten seasons, and Galatasaray who hadn’t won a UCL group game for five years before they beat the Red Devils. United only won once in the group stage, amassing a total of just four points from a possible eighteen, and the one win they obtained was against the Danish side who had to miss a penalty for Ten Hag’s men to pick up three points. While I personally don’t like to blame players heavily, Andre Onana has rightly been criticised for his performances after making a number of errors which have cost United points that would probably have seen them through with Bayern to the round of sixteen.
So, where do the Red Devils go from here? It looks set to be another dismal season in Manchester, but all hope shouldn’t be lost. The number of injuries that teams around them are picking up means that a top four finish cannot be ruled out and there is still an FA Cup to fight for in the second half of the season. Although, fighting for just an FA Cup really does show how far United have fallen in recent years.