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Manchester United hosted Cardiff City in the last game of the Premier League and they were beaten by the relegated side. Both the goals were scored by Nathaniel Mendez-Laing for the away side. This loss meant Manchester United will end their season sixth with 66 points.
Coming to the match, the first half was dominated by Manchester United in terms of possession and chances but Cardiff took the lead through a penalty given away by Diogo Dalot. Mendez-Laing stepped up to make it 1-0. For United, Mason Greenwood came the closest in the first half to breaking the deadlock for the home side as he struck the post and drew some good saves out of the Cardiff goalkeeper.
In the second half, United made some attacking changes but their defense was shambolic on the day. Mendez-Laing around the 54th minute tapped in to make it 2-0 and seal the game. United had their chances later on but they couldn't get a single goal in the game.
The Red Devils' season ended with a poor display at home and in this slideshow, we take a look at the three tactics that cost United the game:
#3 Team Selection
There have been some mistakes made by Solskjaer in terms of team selection in recent games and he made one against Cardiff. Playing Jesse Lingard over Anthony Martial really didn't make sense as Lingard has been short of confidence for quite some time now and he also doesn't really fit into this United team.
Lingard played as a false nine with Marcus Rashford on the left and Mason Greenwood on the right but Lingard doesn't really influence games anymore. Also, Rashford and Greenwood are more strikers than wingers and playing any of them through the middle would have benefitted more.
Lingard had another horrendous game against Cardiff and his inconsistency might cost him his place in the starting XI next season.
#2 Putting Scott McTominay at center back in the second half
Manchester United started this match with Phil Jones and Chris Smalling at the center back positions and Jones put in a poor display in the first half and also got himself injured. Solskjaer put on Anthony Martial in place of him in the second half and told Scott McTominay to fill in at center back.
Safe to say, it wasn't a good decision as McTominay couldn't really apply himself at that position. The second goal scored by Cardiff was due to a direct error made by McTominay. From the throw-in, McTominay couldn't deal with a simple ball played at him and missed it all together which let Josh Murphy through on goal who picked out Mendez-Laing for a tap-in.
McTominay is a central midfielder and if this match was anything to go by, he shouldn't be played at center back and Solskjaer would have learned that against Cardiff.
#1 Not pressing Cardiff enough
One of the biggest problems in this United team is that they don't press the opposition enough and when they do press, it isn't coordinated. We saw that same problem against Cardiff as whenever United lost possession, they weren't squeezing the away side and letting them pass through the middle.
The penalty that Cardiff earned was through one such counter-attack when United lost possession and allowed the Cardiff side to play out easily through the middle. Against a relegated side, the least that is expected of United is that they close down the opposition early but they didn't do that.
Manchester United's lack of pressing may be down to their lack of fitness or lack of desire but those reasons don't give the players a reason to press less. Manchester United's midfield is guilty of not pressing as a unit. Paul Pogba especially wasn't really making any efforts to chase dowm the ball quickly and many are disappointed by the Frenchman's efforts.
Solskjaer has always stated that he wants his United to be the hardest working team in the league but they are way too off from that right now.
