UEL preview: Porto v United

Porto v Manchester United

Fresh from that awful performance against Spurs at the weekend, Erik ten Hag received a renewed kiss of death from the club.

Manchester United must get a result in Portugal to break a three-match winless run and give their manager some hope. 

This United fan provides us with some pre match opinion and analysis.

I’m rarely bullish against Manchester United due to their streaky nature and ability to randomly turn their legs on – especially when losing or in some high-pressure moments as seen by the FA Cup Final. However, what we’ve seen lately is United simply dead on arrival. Not for one moment against Spurs, even before Bruno’s red card, did you think a home win was remotely possible.

I believed in the club's decision to keep Erik after his cup win over Manchester rivals. However, it seems like only a matter of time before he leaves Old Trafford and joins the list of managers who can't get the best performance out of the existing players or new transfers.

We now find ourselves 13th in the Premier League with no “easy” fixtures on the horizon. Villa away, Brentford at home, and West Ham at home all take place this month and you’d have to be shocked at this point to see United come away with two wins from those three in their current form.

At least last season you had moments of brilliance like the 2-0 comeback against Villa. But now there seems to be less hope than ever before despite a plethora of seemingly fantastic summer signings, providing value and filling clear positional holes. It’s still the same old same old and fans would be unwise to look at that Barnsley 7-0 job to provide much hope.



Location: Porto, Portugal

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