Manchester United 0-0 Valencia CF: 5 Talking Points & Tactical Analysis 

#3 Neither side broke the deadlock in the first half:

Batshuayi was not clinical enough

As mentioned in the first slider, United were pretty impressive in the opening stages of the game. they were regularly looking to explore more attacking options and the presence of Alexis Sanchez on the right flank somewhat provided a balance in the attacking pattern that has been missing since long.

Moreover, Sanchez had to cover up for Valencia’s poor display on the defensive front too. On the opposite end, Marcus Rashford had a very exciting half too.

The 20-year-old lad constantly looked to run at defenders and beat them with his explosive directness. He did not refrain from testing the goalkeeper from the long range either. Valencia were attacking well in patches too.

Their captain Daniel Parejo was unable to affect the proceedings and was regularly outrun by Paul Pogba. Hence on certain occasions, there was an absence of a player who could control the tempo of the match.

Gaya, their left back, ran behind Valencia and tried to test the David de Gea. However, Rodrigo Moreno and Romelu Lukaku were misfiring throughout the match.

Maybe, the underperformance of the respective focal points of attack restricted the two teams from opening the scoring.