I don't really like playing "what ifs", but its easy to argue that AWB playing over Dalot makes this game incredibly different. Villareal are not trolling their way past him like they did Dalot. Fair play to Villareal, they found a player that they could exploit the hell out of.
Funnily enough, this game ultimately ended up being fairly even, and a win wasn't undeserved.
Shots on target, 7 v 7
Shots attempted 15 v 14
Pass accuracy Manchester United: 90%
Pass accuracy Villareal: 85%
Possession: 55.7% Manchester United 44.3% Villareal
Heatmap says that the majority of Villareals effort came down the left midfield and left wing, which is true because Diogo Dalot is still feeling shameful about his performance last night. Manchester United focuses effort primarily down the left flank and central, which also makes sense because of Sancho and Telles.
Villareals last matches include 2-2 v Atletico Madrid, 0-0 v Real Madrid, 2-2 v Atalanta, 1-1 v Chelsea and a thrashing of Elche in La Liga.
They're not a poor football team. Its ok to accept that we beat a team that has recent history to prove they can compete with anyone. Until recently they had also not lost a game in Europe in their last 16 outings.
I really like your post. Dalot was a liability yesterday, and touche, Villareal exploited the left side of the pitch. I wouldn't personally read into statistics, in the first half most of our shots were from outside the box, in the second, we didnt really trouble there keeper. On the flip side, de gea had to pull of some outstanding saves to keep us in. When you are at home and your keeper is man of the match, there is a big worry.
We can blame Dalot but Ole's tactical naivety put pressure on us from the start. For 70 plus mins, they killed us on the left and Ole didn't change anything at all to stop that. It is his job to read what is going on and make some tweaks in game to stop it. Its almost as if he is playing football manager, letting the game run and hoping for a moment. We were incredibly lucky last night, played terrible, we are not utilising the talent we have. As an example, we hoofed long balls up the pitch in the first 45, hoping bruno ronaldo, sancho or greenwood would provide a moment.
I can accept a bad performance here and there, especially in the champions league but this is becoming a consistent theme this season, to date. Of the 6 games we played in September, we won 3 and lost 3. This resulted in a cup exit, two home defeats and one clean sheet. When you spend 450m plus in 3 years, you need to be doing much much better. The pressure is on Ole this year and rightly so. We need to play better and sort out coaching out, it's basic.