Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes saw Mike Phelan become aware of the impending danger ahead of Demba Ba’s first goal in Istanbul.
United were stunned in the Turkish capital when poor defenses left ba acres of space when Basaksehir hit United in the counterattack.
The poor positioning of United defenders made them vulnerable and Ba was unmarked, allowing him to burst forward and beat Dean Henderson.
The threat was identified in advance by Phelan and Scholes pointed to his reaction during BT Sport’s halftime analysis when United’s assistant manager Nemanja Matic appeared to be signaling that he should drop into a lower position.
“That is entirely due to the organization from one corner. You will certainly always have someone on the middle line,” said Scholes at BT Sport. “You can see Mike Phelan on the page that is actually pointing and saying, ‘Matic, Matic, you should be there.’ But you’re always aiming.
“It’s like under 10 football. One back, one front. You can understand if it’s the last minute when you want to score, but what is it, 15 minutes?
“It’s embarrassing. I don’t know what the last four are doing. I think United really have problems with them when it comes to attacks. We talked about team balance before the game, they lost a holding today. “
“In terms of ownership and the future, I think they were okay but defensively, again with the second goal, they are absolutely everywhere.”
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