The Red Devils traveled to Turkey on the back of impressive victories against Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig in the first two games of Group H but were stunned by Okan Buruk’s men.
The hosts capitalized on United’s poor defensive display to go two goals up inside 40 minutes, courtesy former Chelsea and Newcastle striker Demba Ba and Edin Visca.
Manchester got one back on the cusp of halftime thanks to Anthony Martial’s header but the Frenchman’s goal could not inspire a comeback as Solskjaer’s men went back to England without a point.
Speaking to the media after the game, the Norwegian coach admitted his side were poor, pointing out to Manchester United’s defensive horror show.
“Performance was not good enough against a team that worked and ran and hit us on the break a couple of times. They scored two goals, like you do in Europe, when you do not defend well enough,” Solskjaer said.
"The first one is that we play a short corner and forget about the man up top. That is unforgivable. The second one as well, we are not very well organised to counter the press.”
“Two tough goals to give away and then we did not have enough to come back in the second half. Anthony Martial scored a good goal but the second half we threw everything at it and could not break them down.”
