What Man Utd Must Do to Improve Is Easier Said Than Done

Youri Tielemans was in no doubt after Manchester United’s humbling Champions League result against Como on Wednesday: “We need to try and do better at everything.”

The Red Devils haven’t won since Sept. 10, a run that now stretches to seven matches across all competitions. But while frustrating Premier League draws are one thing, it was quite another being “outplayed most of the game,” according to Tielemans, by a team debuting in the Champions League this season with a young squad. It finished 4–1 in Como’s favor.

Even with United removed from the glories of yesteryear, the scale of the upset was illustrated by comments from Nico Paz, the architect of their downfall on the shores of the lake. “It was a historic night because we played against one of the best clubs of all time.”

Bruno Fernandes took aim at manager Michael Carrick and the instructions from coaches. “That’s on the manager and the staff to say [if it cost the match],” he said, before offering his own opinion on what should have happened. “Sometimes we have to be more brave under pressure and trying to take a risk of getting that press very high and making them uncomfortable.”

Tielemans didn’t get into a blame game—he separately told MUTV: “We were disjointed as a team, we didn’t play well together, our press was off and when we were on the ball, we could not make the right decisions”—but his broader assessment of what is wrong is arguably just as damning for anyone associated with the team—players included.

“It’s a combination of everything, whether it’s tactical, technical, effort... We need to try and do better at everything,” the summer recruit acknowledged.

“You can be good tactically, but if the effort is not good, or the other way around, it doesn’t matter. You need to be good at everything and we were poor at everything. It’s down to that,” Tielemans added.

What Man Utd Must Do to Improve

Asked how Manchester United fix that, Tielemans said it’s nothing different to anything already said. “It’s the same message as we’ve had the last few weeks,” he sighed.

“We can be here and talk about it but we need to show it on the pitch. We can only apologise to the fans. They’re disappointed, we’re disappointed, and the only thing we can do is try and show something on the pitch, which we didn’t do enough of the last few weeks.”

Tielemans’s assessment has echoes of “David Moyes says #mufc must improve in a number of areas, including passing, creating chances and defending,” the viral social media post sent from the club’s official X (then Twitter) account dating from December 2013.

Back then, United had lost two in a row but were only three games without a win. It shows how much higher the standards used to be and what the definition of a crisis was at that time. They’d hammered Bayer Leverkusen 5–0 only two weeks prior and responded by reeling off six straight victories. It’s hard to see how the current team will do that.

Things aren’t about to get easier. Bournemouth visit Old Trafford on Sunday and are in better form after getting a first Premier League win of the season. United failed to beat the Cherries in six attempts during their Andoni Iraola era, twice losing 3–0 at home in that run.

Then comes Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, a Champions League clash with Roma, followed by the visit of Aston Villa to Old Trafford. Villa had their own poor start to the season but have got their act together in recent matches to now leapfrog United in the standings.