UEFA Europa League 2019/20: 3 reasons why Manchester United lost to FC Astana

#3 Astana were pretty solid at counter-attacking

Astana goalkeeper Eric made some tremendous saves during the game

There isn’t much more to be said about this game; it’s arguable that FC Astana’s goalkeeper Eric was Man of the Match after his saves from Angel Gomes and Mason Greenwood late in the second half allowed the Kazakhstani side to hold on for victory, but it’s probably fair to point out that they were pretty good on the counter too.

Astana had just 33% of the possession in this game and were pinned into their own half for long periods by their Premier League opponents, but when they did break forward, they definitely gave United’s defence some problems.

The fact that they were able to put together 16 shots – including 4 on target – tells its own story, and in all honesty they could’ve scored more had the likes of Roman Murtazayev and Runar Mar Sigurjonsson not missed good chances in the second half.

Admittedly, their winning goal had something of a fluke about it; Antonio Rukavina’s cross hit the body of Di’Shon Bernard and the youngster couldn’t do a lot about it before it wrong-footed Lee Grant and ended up in the net, but overall this was a decent smash-and-grab effort from FC Astana, who can be proud of their victory.

Six #MUAcademy players made their first-team debuts against Astana.Here's Ole's take on today's #UEL game...#MUFC pic.twitter.com/5Fnq7bYcPl

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 28, 2019