Manchester United have endured a turbulent period since their last tie against Fenerbahce in the Europa League a few weeks ago and Jose Mourinho will be desperate to return to winning ways in Turkey on Thursday.
After a promising start to the season, Jose Mourinho’s maiden campaign in-charge as Manchester United boss has endured a dark period where they have managed to pick up only two victories out of the last 6 games – both of which have come in cup competitions – and has also seen him receive not one, but two FA charges within a single week. However, all of that negativity can be turned around if the Red Devils manage a victory at Fenerbahce.
United have picked up 6 points from their three games in the Europa League so far and a win over the Turkish side will leave them within touching distance of the knock-out stages. However, a win for Fenerbahce will see an interesting turn of events in Group A with the Red Devils potentially needing to win their remaining games to ensure progress.
Team News and Tactics
Fenerbahce
After enduring a poor start to their season, Fenerbahce are up and running in the Turkish Premier League, notching up 14 points in their last 6 encounters while picking up only 1 in their first three. Their most recent victory came during the weekend in a 5-0 thumping of Karabukspor. The Turkish side, however, started their Europa League campaign promisingly with a draw over Zorya and a win over Dutch champions Feyenoord.
But with a 4-1 loss at Old Trafford against Manchester United, the prospects in the group look bleak for Dick Advocaat’s men going into the game on Thursday, unless of course, they manage to sneak a victory past a troubled Jose Mourinho’s side. Robin Van Persie is slowly picking up form having scored 4 goals in all competitions for the Istanbul club, three of which have come in the last couple of weeks. The Dutchman scored a brace during Fener’s 5-0 drubbing in the weekend. Having scored against United at Old Trafford, he’ll hope to guide his team to a famous victory over the English giants.
Advocaat is expected to stick to his 4-2-3-1 formation with Robin Van Persie sitting up top in attack followed by a midfield trio of Jeremain Lens, Aatif Chahechouhe and Volkan Sen. Lens comes into the line-up in place of Van Der Wiel who didn’t enjoy the best of outings against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Lens’s Premier League experience from his Sunderland days should help hold him in good stead partnering his countryman in attack.
The holding midfield roles remain unchanged with Mehmed Topal and Josef De Souze keeping their spots in front of a back-line held together by former Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel and Simon Kjaer. The defence will need to do better than they fared two weeks ago when they shipped four goals at the Stadium of Dreams and for the sake of their Europa League hopes, must put their bodies on the line to keep a star-studded United attack at bay.
Possible Starting XI (4-2-3-1): Demirel; Özbayrakli, Kjaer, Skrtel, Kaldirim; Topal, Souza; Lens, Chahechouhe, Şen; van Persie
Manchester United
The Red Devils haven’t done an awful lot bad this season. They are still very much in the hunt in the Europa League and the EFL Cup and sit 5 points off the top 4 places in the Premier League, which isn’t really ‘disastrous’ considering it’s just November. However, given the money that they have spent on the kind of players they bought over the summer, one would have expected them to breeze through this Europa League group and do better than they have in the Premier League and that is probably the reason why there has been so much negativity surrounding their performances.
Phil Jones returned to training after a lengthy lay-off due to injury and has travelled with the squad to Turkey along with the likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial and Timothy Fose Mensah, all of whom missed the Reds’ 0-0 draw against Burnley during the weekend. However, Mourinho hasn’t included Chris Smalling, Michael Carrick and Memphis Depay in the squad for the trip to Istanbul while also being forced to sideline Antonio Valencia after the Ecuadorian full-back suffered a fracture in his arm.
United cannot afford to lose this game. Hence we can expect a full-strength line-up from Mourinho going into this game, especially in the attacking department. Zlatan Ibrahimovic endured a torrid evening at Old Trafford against Burnley after he struggled to score after registering 12 shots on goal. Which is why a good performance against Fener at Turkey would be paramount to the Swedish striker’s confidence. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial are expected to flank the forward on the wings with Wayne Rooney potentially given an opportunity to redeem himself with a starting place behind Ibra.
With Carrick absent, United will go with in-from Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba to hold the midfield together for the Reds. Having lost a significant number of defenders to injury, the Portuguese boss is expected to go with Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo in centre-back while Luke Shaw and Matteo Darmian take their respective full-back positions.
Possible Starting XI (4-2-3-1): De Gea, Darmian, Blind, Rojo, Shaw; Herrera, Pogba; Rashford, Rooney, Martial; Ibrahimovic
Key Stats
- Wayne Rooney is one goal away from equaling Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s club record of highest number of European goals scored.
- Manchester United have played seven games in Turkey – against Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Besiktas and Bursaspor – and have won three, drawn two and lost two.
- Fenerbahçe are unbeaten in seven European home games (W6 D1), winning the last five. They have kept clean sheets in five of those seven matches.
- United have gone six games without a European away win (D1 L5) and failed to score in the most recent two of those matches.
Player to watch out for
Manchester United: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Needless to say, he is a wounded animal at the moment. Manchester United are beginning to create a lot more chances in recent games and it is only a matter of time before the goals start flowing in. And for that to happen, Zlatan will have to put on his scoring boots on the night and having endured a poor weekend, the Swede has all the more impetus to give his best at Istanbul.
Prediction
Fenerbahce 1-3 Manchester United
This fixture could well repeat the events that transpired at Old Trafford a couple of weeks ago. United on the night were formidable and gave Dick Advocaat’s side a lot of problems and with nearly the same line up expected to feature at the Ulker Stadium, the Red Devils will fancy themselves to come away with three points.
