Player ratings from Manchester United’s 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League League Phase.
Senne Lammens – 4
Not particularly at fault for either goal but ultimately didn’t do enough.
Diogo Dalot – 3
Continues to have his positioning exposed out of possession. Provides composure on the ball in the first two thirds but not enough in the final third.
Leny Yoro – 2
Caught sleeping on the first goal and a consistent theme of the match was Atleti trying to target him. Red card was a little soft
but he was out of position and coming from behind, hard to complain.
Lisandro Martinez – 3
Very erratic day with too many mistakes. Played a nice pass for Rashford that he whiffed on.
Post match update – 6
Giving the man bonus points for going off on the top brass of the club after the match. A manager makes comments like that and he’d be sacked within 24 hours. A player has a bit more security here, though with Martinez on the final year of his deal, maybe not.
Ayden Heaven – 2
Did not offer much as a left back.
Andre Santos – 5
Fairly tidy with possession. Overall fine, which is about the best you could say for any United player tonight.
Carlos Baleba – 5
Provides a lot of energy in midfield. You can see the potential with him but he’s already being asked to do way too much.
Marcus Rashford – 1
Made no impact
Youri Tielemans – 2
He was United’s main creator and created their best chances of the match, but when he wasn’t doing that he wasn’t doing anything. He was again a liability off the ball and his passing not good enough to make up for it.
Bruno Fernandes – 2
Briefly came alive at the start of the second half but overall another off night. It’s becoming a theme for him this season.
Bryan Mbeumo – 2
The positive spin is he’s continuing to get good chances for United. He’s done that consistently this season no matter how poorly United are playing. But the reality is he’s had “the chance” to get United back in the game three or four times this season and he’s missed them all. Missed another one tonight.
Subs
Amad – 4
Wasn’t able to make an impact when he came on.
Joshua Zirkzee – 4
Second straight game where he came on and was ok. The bar is on the floor here though.
Mason Mount – 1
Given a chance and did nothing. Incredibly lazy pass that starts the sequence ending in Yoro’s red card.
Harry Maguire – N/A
Came on too late to do anything
Matheus Cunha – N/A
Looked like he had some dawg in him, but down to 10 men couldn’t make an impact.
Manager
Michael Carrick – 1
The first goal was unfortunately not a fluke. Atletico attacked the same way over and over again. So often they were able to just go right up the middle. No adjustments made. Yes United did manage to create some chances (4 big chances) but don’t let that number fool you. At no point did they look settled, comfortable, or like they belonged on the same pitch as the home side.
Michael Carrick looks like a completely different manager this season compared to last. Where last season he looked at how he could get every last result out of the team, this season he seems hell bent on establishing a set way of playing that has not been working. The 4-2-4 press is awfully similar to the pressing scheme we saw in Erik Ten Hag’s second season and seems to have all the same flaws. Every team knows how to beat it yet Carrick has persisted with it. It’s bizarre, and Atletico had a field with it today.
