Van de Beek, Solskjaer reaction after Manchester United loses in Turkey
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer felt his Manchester United was outworked in Turkey as Istanbul Basaksehir handed the Red Devils a first setback of their UEFA Champions League group stage.
“Performance wasn’t good enough against a team that ran and worked and caught us on the break,” he said. “We didn’t defend well enough. It’s unforgivable, the first one.”
The goal in question was an absolute jailbreak and United played the role of sleeping guard in a fashion Sergio Leone would welcome.
[ 3 THINGS: Istanbul Basaksehir – Man Utd ]
Demba Ba fired past the United backs to beat Dean Henderson 1v1, as the Turkish hosts scored the first of two goals on the day. United would only answer once.
“Today we created not many chances,” Van de Beek said. “It’s really disappointing. For them it’s a really nice win and for us, we need to improve a lot. … We have to step up for the game against Everton.”
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Van de Beek was decent in his 61 minutes, passing efficiently including one key pass and connecting on both of his long efforts (SofaScore).
The Dutchman also won most of his duels and converted both of his dribbles.
But it’s difficult to look at positives on a night like Wednesday, and attacking subs Paul Pogba (for Van de Beek), Mason Greenwood, and Edinson Cavani combined for zero shot attempts.
United had 70 percent of the ball but managed just 10 shots to Basaksehir’s nine.
Instead of putting one foot in the knockout rounds like Man City and Liverpool, United’s opened the door to all three of its group mates.
“It’s set us back a lot,” Solksjaer said. “You get a reality check when you play a football game here. You don’t just turn up and get three points in the Champions League. We played against lots of good individuals in a good team, well set up and organised. We weren’t good enough. … It’s not easy to be positive, not when you play like this.”
United heads to Everton on Saturday before the international break, then hosts West Ham before a rematch with Basaksehir.
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Van de Beek, Solskjaer reaction after Manchester United loses in Turkey originally appeared on NBCSports.com