Premier League: Bournemouth end United's three-game unbeaten run
What's the story
Minnows Bournemouth edged past former champions Manchester United 1-0, in their Premier League 2019-20 encounter, at Dean Court on Saturday.
The home team ended United's three-game unbeaten run, across competitions. The Red Devils have dropped down to the tenth spot in the table as they are 16 points below league leaders Liverpool.
Here is the match report and other takeaways.
Match report
How did the match unfold?
Since the opening whistle of the game, both the teams showed the real intensity and coming close to scoring on numerous occasions.
However, United's sloppy defense once again cost them, as Joshua King earned the hosts the lead at the stroke of half-time.
The second half saw an even elevated attack form the hosts. While United hit the bar, they couldn't pull one back.
Key stats
Some key stats from the match
Following are a couple of key stats from the match:
- United have not kept a clean sheet in their last 11 away EPL games, their joint longest since August 2002 to January 2003.
- United's current tally of 13 points from 11 games this season is their lowest at this juncture, since 1986-87 (11).
Learnings
United conspicuous with their inconsistent performance
Analyzing the performance, here are a few interesting observations:
While United did put up intimidating performances last week, it was their defense once again, that failed them down in this tie, unlike the previous three matches.
Also, their unique knack of performing against the big team and succumbing against the weaker ones, this season, has been baffling and has sent experts scratching their heads.
Twitter Post
Sheer frustration for this United fan against Solskjaer
Manchester United. 20 league titles. 3/4 European Cups. Worth billions.
— Austin (@AustinDarbo) November 2, 2019
They gave the entire job to a man because he once stretched out his leg 20 years ago. Its beyond belief
Twitter Post
Will United slump to bottom-half of EPL table by Sunday?
Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Manchester United.
— Duncan Castles (@DuncanCastles) November 2, 2019
16 Premier League matches, 3 wins, averaging less than 1 goal a game.
Scored more than one goal in those 16 matches just twice.
Likely to be in the bottom half of table again by the end of the weekend. #MUNBOUhttps://t.co/pIl0Eo8sS3 pic.twitter.com/3qTREXq8Tl
What's next?
United shift focus back to UEFA Europa League
While United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would be back to the drawing board about what went wrong in this tie, they would have to shift their focus to UEFA Europa League, as they host Partizan on Thursday.
They would be back in EPL action against Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday.
As for Bournemouth, they would take on Newcastle United on Saturday.