Erik ten Hag’s Man Utd are utterly chaotic – they cannot return to top like this

United have often been thrilling to watch going forward, something Erik ten Hag was keen to impress after their 3-3 draw away to Galatasaray, and there have certainly been some vivid glimpses of the manager’s attacking vision for this team.

But it is an utterly chaotic form of entertainment that cannot last, not if United are serious about returning to the top table of European football and once again becoming a regular fixture in the latter stages of the competition.

They are not going to achieve that when they surrender control so easily, when they implode at the first whiff of trouble, when they cannot manage a game away from home and have still to grasp the principle of taking the sting out of a game. Galatasaray had seen it at Old Trafford last month and history repeated itself here.

This is such a naive football team, and that was evident in the preamble to conceding the first free-kick from which Hakim Ziyech scored.

United had thrown an army of bodies forward as Scott McTominay found himself in possession near the right touchline.

A third goal at that stage would have killed the game but United had overcommitted and certainly did not need McTominay to rush his cross. He did, much to the visible displeasure of Bruno Fernandes, with Galatasaray cutting it out and suddenly United found themselves being countered. Fernandes gave chase and ended up clipping the heels of Lucas Torreira a few yards outside the penalty area.

What followed was still avoidable – both in terms of the set-up of the defensive wall and Onana’s wrong footing – but United should never have got to the point of conceding a free-kick on the edge of the box from where they were.

It was one of numerous examples of poor game management that Ten Hag would later rue. “In such areas, we have to be in more control,” the United manager said. “It is always about incidents, always about details and some incidents we can manage better. As a team, we have to learn from it because we are conceding too many goals and it is unnecessary and avoidable.

“If you can sort better the management of the game out then you start playing football. The football is good, the performances are good, but now we have to learn better how to manage this game.”

This is not a problem isolated to Europe. It has been a feature throughout Ten Hag’s reign, and predates it in truth. United have conceded 33 goals in all competitions this season, the most in their opening 20 matches of any season since 1962-63.

Would things have been better on the night had Ten Hag not replaced Sofyan Amrabat with Kobbie Mainoo, but rather introduced the youngster alongside the Morocco midfielder? Amrabat had not started well and seemed taken aback by the pace of the game. But he had settled and was asserting some control when he was withdrawn in the 58th minute and United, 3-1 up and in command, had needed to slow the pace of the game and discourage Galatasaray. 

But within four minutes the Turkish champions had another goal back and the stage was set for an utterly frenetic final half an hour.

Ten Hag had said beforehand that this was a night when cool heads would prevail. United could not have legislated for Onana’s errors – or maybe they need to start to? – but a familiar loss of control continues to haunt them