Man Utd 1-4 Dortmund: The Red Devils are at a disadvantage

Dortmund easily scored four goals against Man Utd in a friendly match in China on the evening of July 22. Mkhitaryan scored a consolation goal for the English team.

Dortmund is too strong for Man Utd. Photo: Reuters

Goals: Mkhitaryan 59' - Castro 19', 86', Aubameang 36' penalty, Dembele 57'

In the opening match of the ICC, a Man Utd team still being assembled under the new reign of Jose Mourinho clearly could not compare to the battle-hardened army of Dortmund. The German team easily took a three-goal lead after 57 minutes of play, before winning 6-1. Man Utd only got one goal back thanks to Mkhitaryan, who is also a former Dortmund player.

Dortmund moved to the top of the three-team group at the ICC thanks to a big win in their opening match. In the remaining two matches, Man Utd and Dortmund will take on Man City on July 25 and July 28, also in China.

Like the 2-0 win over Wigan last weekend, coach Jose Mourinho put his faith in the Depay - Mkhitaryan pair up front. Supporting these two players is Juan Mata, the midfielder who just returned from the Spanish national team. In the back line, another new player of Man Utd, Eric Bailly, also got a starting position. Such an arrangement is not too difficult to understand, but the result in the second friendly match under Mourinho was completely different. The simple reason is that Dortmund are much more combative than Wigan.

With Thomas Tuchel continuing to lead, Dortmund did not lose too much strength. Even when Gundogan, Hummels and Mkhitaryan just said goodbye, the German team quickly got a worthy replacement. The proof was that Dortmund continuously pressed the field from the 15th minute until the beginning of the second half. During this time, Man Utd's net had to shake three times after simple attacks from the away team.

Coach Mourinho seems to realize that Man Utd is a difficult problem.

For young goalkeeper Johnstones, the first half could be the most forgettable period under the new coach. The goalkeeper made a mistake in clearing the ball leading to the opening goal (Castro kicked the rebound), and also had many unreasonable entries and exits. In the 36th minute, Johnstones had to concede another goal from Aubameyang's penalty kick.

Substituted for the second half, goalkeeper Sergio Romero was no better. The Argentina star stood rooted to the spot as Dembele made it 3-0, before diving in despair to save Castro's long-range shot that sealed the 4-1 victory.

If Man Utd could blame individuals for the first two goals, then what came from the two goals after that was just a matter of acceptance. In the situation of increasing the score to 3-0, young striker Dembele broke through solo from midfield, passed Rojo before shooting hard into the right corner of the goal. This goal was enough to make Dembele worthy of the transfer fee of 17 million dollars that Dortmund just paid to Rennes (France). In the situation of deciding the victory, the audience also witnessed a masterpiece when Castro dribbled from midfield and shot from outside the penalty area. The ball flew into the top corner, just beyond Romero's reach and giving Castro a double.

Scoring against Man Utd is not too difficult for Dortmund.

In addition to the shaky defense and the loss in midfield, Man Utd also failed to create cohesion in the attack. The four players Mata, Lingard, Depay, Mkhitaryan were completely separated, and at the same time did not have effective enough coordination to overcome Dortmund's defense. Man Utd's only equalizer came from a somewhat lucky situation, after the opponent suddenly showed complacency after three goals ahead. In this situation, Rashford passed long enough for Mata to break the offside trap, then Mkhitaryan easily received the ball to finish in the face of an open goal.

After losing heavily to a Champions League representative like Dortmund, coach Mourinho can understand that there is still a lot of work to do to revive Man Utd. Besides helping the players get used to the new tactical system, "The Special One" also needs a group of players returning from the Euro like Rooney, De Gea, Martial and especially Ibrahimovic.

According to VNE