Poor form at home and the lack of a settled team are issues for Manchester United ahead of tonight's Champions League tie at home to Galatasaray, with RTÉ anlayst Lisa Fallon saying that a win, no matter how pretty, is essential for Erik ten Hag's side.
United's Premier League form has been poor so far, losing four of their seven games played, the latest being Saturday's 1-0 loss at home to Crystal Palace.
As a consequence, there is now much riding on the clash with the Turkish champions, with Fallon telling RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland: "It's massive really coming off the back of a defeat.
"One of the things about Manchester United is how strong their home form has been, particularly last season, where they only lost once at home. Already they have lost twice at home this season, only just beat Wolves and came from 2-0 down against Nottingham Forest.
"For Erik ten Hag and United fans, they probably see this game with a little bit of trepidation and don't have the confidence they would normally have going into a Champions League game. The real problem for Ten Hag is that he cannot get a settled XI on the pitch. There are so many injuries and they have a real problem in the right-back position.
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"Luke Shaw is still injured and Amrabat [Sofyan] had to play there at the weekend.
"If you don't have a fairly settled team and your home form is not good, with the team not having that resilience, that's a problem for you going into Europe.
"I think for mindset they have to win this one. It's one of those games where you do what has to be done even if it's not pretty. You just go and get the result and get that platform for all sorts of reasons."
Arsenal are also in action tonight as they look to make it two wins from two.
Mikel Arteta's side have finally arrived in France for their tie with Lens, this after their chartered flight to the northern French city was grounded at Luton Airport on Monday due to bad weather.
As a result, the Gunners had to cancel their pre-match press conference on the eve of the game.
Preparations, somewhat interrupted, but not enough to impact greatly on Arsenal, adds Fallon, for what will their first away Champions League game over six years.
"The fact that they had trained in London Colney at 11.30am; the flight was due to go at 4.15 and it's only 20 minutes from London Colney to Luton Airport. They would have been in a private terminal, nice and relaxed in there after training. That part of their day would have been fine.
"The problem would be their evening meal from a matchday preparation, that evening meal they would have expected at around 6.30 or 7. That's where the impact would be and how they negotiated that.
"They will adjust their schedule and players would have got a little bit of extra time in bed this morning to adjust the day accordingly. Things will get pushed around a small bit. I'd say the biggest impact was for the press and not being able to have the press conference.
"From the players perspective it's a short flight and I don't think it will really impact them to perform at the top level."
Watch Manchester United v Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday from 7.30pm live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app
