Did another one of these. Some of you seemed to appreciate them last time. Here goes:

First half notes, Man United – Galatasaray

Pre-game thoughts:

• First time we get to see the likes of Rooney, Zlatan, Martial, De Gea play for Mourinho. Excited!
• Expecting a 4-2-3-1 formation with Rooney behind Zlatan, Herrera as a more forward-minded midfielder in the pairing with Schneiderlin, and Martial and Mikhitaryan providing the width.
• I’ve been in this stadium before, it is gorgeous! They sell amazing hot dogs as well. Always a plus.
• Expecting Schneiderlin to have a very restricted role shielding the defense, as Mourinho often allocates these instructions to one of his midfielders.

1-15

• Rooney dropping surprisingly deep. Seems to be a way to cope with the high pressure of Galatasaray.
• Slow start. Calm build-up with high pressing full-backs from us. Galatasaray holding a firm shape in midfield, virtually isolating the likes of Rooney and Herrera.
• 3 minutes in, Zlatan has 4 touches within a minute. The last of them an overhead kick. 1-0. Zlatan scores on his first shot on target for Man United. Holy shit. Good cross in from Valencia as well.
• Our defensive shape looks very tight. Bailly, Blind, Schneiderlin, and Herrera all close down space rather well at the moment. Nowhere for Sneijder to run.
• Rooney with a few meh involvements thus far. Looks rusty as per usual this time a year. Hopefully he can show some signs of form as the game progresses.
• Valencia doing well to find De Gea under much pressure. Strong start from last games’ captain.
• As expected, Herrera has a lot of freedom and Schneiderlin has none. In Football Manager terms, you might call our formation a 4-1-1-3-1.
• We allow ourselves to retreat quite deep in the pitch when Galatasaray try to build form defense. Morgan and Ander doing really well to control the midfield channels, breaking up most attempts of Galatasaray finding Sneijder.
• Bailly doing well to intercept a few times. Needs to work on where he puts the ball when he clears it – it often ends up in the feet of the opposition.

15-30

• Galatasaray still looking toothless. I’d like to see us turn it up a notch and punish them. 3-0 for half-time would be nice.
• Ref my Bailly point above. He should take notes from Daily Blind. Excellent header finding Luke Shaw on the left that lets us charge forward. Lots of good movement, but Rooney wastes it with a really poorly timed and executed pass.
• Mikhitaryan continues the trend of making forward runs regardless of where the ball is. Stretches the defense and is a constant headache. Offside this time, though. Nice for our CBs to have alternatives up-front like that.
• Ibrahimovic with a poor challenge outside our box. Freekick Galatasaray. 1-1. Pretty slack defending, and a very unnecessary goal to concede. Nobody marking the Galatasaray players. Hopefully we’ll see us pick it up a notch now.
• Mikhitaryan struggling to be effective so far. Lost the ball a few times trying to dribble.
• Largely struggling to involve both our wide players and Rooney at the center at the moment. Would like to see Rooney take the game by the scruff of the neck, as so far he’s shown nothing.
• Martial with a trademark run. Beats two Galatasaray players by running past them. His cross is blocked and we earn a corner kick.
• Thinking back to last game, Rooney’s sort of showing the opposite of Mata. Mata was looking like he had a point to prove. Rooney’s just drifting around. I don’t want to turn my “thoughts on the game” into a Rooney bashing comment, but he’s making it hard not to.
• We’re letting Galatasaray control the game at the moment. Both by giving the ball away easy, but also by allowing them lots of space to move forward. Quite poor game from us so far.

30-45

• Galatasaray midfielders do well to stretch our core wide before either finding Sneijder or just running through our midfield with the ball. This has been done several times so far, and we’d be punished massively by a better team. I’m sure Mourinho will tell the lads to tighten it up at half-time.
• We let Galatasaray run through our midfield and defense as if they weren’t there. Bailly with a very strong interception, saving our bacon. Awful defending from everyone except Bailly himself.
• Again letting Sneijder have the ball in a dangerous position without applying pressure. Not sure why we’re not getting close. Shot could’ve gone in, but David De Gea with a nice save.
• Still struggling to involve our wide players. Both Martial and Mikhitaryan have been looking for the ball, both to feet and in space, without being enabled by our more central trio (Rooney, Herrera, Schneiderlin). Quite the concern.
• Mikhitaryan drifts inwards and creates a chance immediately. Rooney blasts the ball over goal. Better tendencies.
• Making Galatasaray look like a really good team at the moment. We’re lacking: Intensity, accuracy, creative output from the center, and the discipline to man-mark on crosses and set-pieces. We look best when Zlatan is involved, or we attack in triangles down the sides, just ignoring the center of the pitch. Would like to see someone else take on the center attacking midfield position in the second half to see if we can involve our wingers more regularly.
• Awful defending once again. Everyone is watching Bruma receive the ball and slot it perfectly behind De Gea 2-1 Galatasaray. Mourinho will be absolutely fuming at half-time from what he’s seen. Playing like this will have us lose against Bournemouth, so there is lots of work to be done.
• Trying to attack with a one-two, but Rooney concedes the ball once again. Disastrous first display infront of Mourinho by the captain. A first-half he’ll want to forget.
• Zlatan doing well to pressure up-front, forcing mistakes from Galatasaray. Earns us a corner kick.
• We’re very easy to force backwards at the moment. Galatasaray standing high up and we’re not making runs to punish it
• Rooney gives the ball away once again and it’s half-time.