Manchester United 1-1 Burnley: Five things noticed, including slight worry for fan-favourite

Manchester United created themselves a 1-1 draw as Erik ten Hag’s men failed to take all three points from Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

Erik ten Hag opted to play an unchanged XI as Manchester United faced Burnley at Old Trafford in the Premier League, despite many calling for Antony to be dropped in favour of Amad Diallo, who started on the bench on Saturday afternoon.

The tie started off strong, with both teams being offered good opening chances, but neither could take. United very much started off as the better of the two clubs, but following a flurry of good chances, Burnley dominated the final 10 minutes but also failed to score, leaving the sides goalless after 45 minutes.

Read More: Player Ratings – Manchester United vs Burnley (Premier League)

United certainly had André Onana to thank after the goalkeeper made multiple pivotal saves to keep the scores level.

Ten Hag’s men picked up their stride once again in the second half, with the forward players getting in behind on numerous occasions. However, with 15 minutes remaining in the tie, neither side was able to take their chances, with the game unbelievably still at 0-0.

With just 10 minutes remaining, it was the man who has been talked about so much who came up with the goods for the Reds as Antony latched on to a poor pass across Burnley’s defence to run through on goal and finish in front of the Stretford End to hand United a lead.

But, low and behold, United became the masters of their own downfall again, with a penalty being gifted to the Clarets in the 85th minute sealing a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

#1 – Failing to capitalise… AGAIN

In the opening 45 minutes, United had 12 shots and created two big chances. After half an hour, they should have been two or three goals up, but they failed to do so.

This allowed Burnley to grow into the game and establish their own within United’s half, leading to Onana mustering up multiple fantastic saves to keep Burnley at bay.

In the second half, United continued to create chances, but a disjointed front line meant the final pass failed to find the right player at the right time. In all honesty, even though Antony found a way through, it took an absolute gift of a chance to open their account for the game.

#2 – Antony proving Ten Hag right?

Antony was given multiple good chances during the first half but failed to take any of them, while the world talked about how Amad should have started ahead of him on the left-hand side.

Ten Hag has continued to back his £82 million signing to find form despite a bad season, but many were not happy with the decision to both start and keep Antony on, although it somewhat paid off by full-time.

Antony has to be given credit for his anticipation to latch on to the loose ball 25 yards from goal and keep on his feet long enough to finish the effort, proving that, on this occasion, Ten Hag’s resilience was fair – although it only earned United one point, rather than the desired three.

#3 – Garnacho’s finishing issues

In the last two fixtures against Sheffield United and Burnley, Alejandro Garnacho has had many brilliant scoring chances, but the young forward has failed to convert when called upon.

Considering how efficient he had been in front of goal earlier in the campaign, this may be down to fatigue. The 19-year-old has started United’s last 33 fixtures across all competitions, including his third in six days, which may be a slight worry.

In the last few weeks, Garnacho has missed multiple training sessions through illness, which has no doubt affected his ability to perform to the highest level and impacted his fitness. However, against Burnley, he and Bruno Fernandes were the club’s most potent threats.

#4 – Casemiro… it was going well until it wasn’t

The first 85 minutes saw Casemiro actually have a pretty good performance as an auxiliary centre-back next to Harry Maguire, making some good tackles and passes to keep United ticking and Burnley at bay.

But then, inexplicably, he suddenly decided to try to head the ball back to Onana over multiple Burnley attackers instead of clearing the ball up the field, and the header was poor, selling the goalkeeper short.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka then headed clear, but Onana rightly bombed off his line to try and fix Casemiro’s mistake, but took out one of Burnley’s men in the process, with VAR confirming that the goalkeeper had fouled in the process and a penalty awarded and duly scored.

#5 – Masters of their own downfall

United often make life very difficult for themselves, and this was more evident than ever on Saturday afternoon.

Failing to take their chances, failing to capitalise on errors, and making poor individual mistakes were all on show. Even throughout the injury crisis, so many minor errors contributed to United’s sixth-place position in the Premier League—and they really don’t deserve to be any higher in the table.