Critical analysis 2: Man United stunned by Galatasaray as Ten Hag’s team loses 3–2 in the Champions League

News organisation: The Associated Press (AP)

Date of Publication: 03 October 2023

Mode: Text

Genre of Article: News feature. Digital news and Newspaper. Since the AP is a news agency, the story will certainly be picked up by other news organisations/publications.

Category/Beat: Sports

Literal Audience: Sports sector; Fans, players and officials of Manchester United, Galatasaray and UEFA Champions League; Football fans, enthusiasts in the United Kingdom and Turkey.

Virtual Audience: Since the AP is a news agency, it caters to a global audience. However, it is based in the United States and hence widely covers American stories when compared to other countries.

Narrator: James Robson, global football correspondent for the AP.

Focalisation: The story is narrated with Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag as the focal point before concluding with sequences of the Champions League tie between Manchester United and Galatasaray at Old Trafford.

Character/s:

• Erik ten Hag (Manchester United manager)
• Andre Onana, Manchester United Football Club (MUFC) goalkeeper; Rasmus Hojlund (MUFC forward), Casemiro (MUFC midfielder), Bruno Fernandes (MUFC midfielder), Marcus Rashford (MUFC winger), Diogo Dalot (MUFC defender) and Sofyan Amrabat (MUFC midfielder).
• Mauro Icardi, Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (GSK) forward; Davinson Sanchez (GSK defender), Wilfried Zaha (GSK winger), Kerem Akturkoglu (GSK midfielder), Sacha Boey (GSK defender), Sergio Oliveira (GSK midfielder), Abdulkerim Bardakci (GSK defender), Fernando Muslera (GSK goalkeeper) and Dries Mertens (GSK forward).
• Other players, Sir Alex Ferguson and Ron Atkinson (Former Man Utd managers), MUFC fans that attended the game and mentioned in the report.

The top half of the story focuses on ten Hag. The author has quoted the Dutchman’s reaction to another loss in the Champions League. The author also made use of the time when a manager was sacked when the club found itself in a similar position in the past. Furthermore, the author, through ten Hag’s quotes, reveals how the manager believes that the club is united and will fight back.

The second half of the story includes match highlight twice, one, the key highlight and two, a more detailed version of a chronological timeline. The author has utilised the players and the timeline to create movement.

Setting/s: Old Trafford, Manchester, United Kingdom and Allianz Arena, Bavaria Germany. Allianz Arena hasn’t been mentioned but it is the venue where Manchester United took on Bayern in their Group A opening fixture.

Movement:

• Flashback to the 1986–87 season when United lost 6 games from its opening 10 matches which led to the sacking of former manager Ron Atkinson.
• The immediate hiring of Ferguson that changed United’s fortunes.
• Icardi’s goal that secured Galatasaray’s first away win in the UCL since 2013.
• Redemption: Icardi’s missed penalty before scoring the winner.
• United’s setback (loss to Bayern) and expectations (wins required vs Galatasaray, Copenhagen)
• Recap of key moments from the game.

Movement keeps the reader engaged. Highlights from the game towards the end of the story are action-packed and punchy.

Temporality:

• The author rewinds the clock to the 1986–87 season to reveal what happened the last time United lost 6 of its first 10 games.
• Reintroduction of a quote from the post-match conference in paragraphs 6 and 7 that suggests the dressing room is united despite the setback.
• Recap of major highlights from the game.
• Post-match reaction from fans revealing their continued disappointment over recent results.
• Timeline of key events from the game.

The author makes good use of temporality at the beginning which reveals how the club reacted in the past when faced with the same scenario.

The author also provides a recap of the key moments from the game providing readers with a better understanding of the game.

Umwelt: No use of Umwelt, uncommon in news stories.

Intertextuality: Examples of intertextuality are not present in the story and are often uncommon in stories that are direct.

“Manchester evening rain”? Not sure if this would qualify as an example.

Semiotics: The text mainly describes footballing events and does not include semiotics.

• However, “the $82 million striker” that’s used to describe Hojlund may signify the value and quality of the Red Devils’ new recruit.

Rhetorical figures:

• Metonymy: “the $82 million striker” — Striker metonymically refers to the entire player.

Mimesis: Detailed descriptions of match events, player movements and stadium atmosphere are used to create life-like representations of the moments that unfolded at Old Trafford.

Diegesis: In the report, moments from the football match including goals, player actions, and fan reactions have been described in a storytelling manner. The author presents the narrative of the game between Manchester United and Galatasaray that details key events, goals and the overall performance of the teams.

Notes on Editorial Choices/Analysis

Headline: Clear headline but one that is normally used for short and simple match reports. The intro indicates that ten Hag is the focal point of the story, therefore a better headline could be written from the Dutchman’s angle.

Lead: While the lead summarises the story in a way, it is not very clear. The author has made the use of an indirect quote which can easily be confused with a quote taken from a pre-match interview. The report also has details from the tie between Manchester United and Galatasaray and could at least have included the scoreline in the intro.

Language and Tone: The author provides a fair description of the game.

Sources: Cites ten Hag’s quotes. Since it was a news feature, the story could have included more quotes from officials, past players, pundits or fans. Fan quotes could have added more colour to the story.

Quotes: The author has been selective with ten Hags quotes to fit the narrative which is fine in this case as the story is a fair description of the game and Manchester United’s current form.

Visuals: 6 photos from the match have been presented along with the report highlighting key moments from the game. The publication could’ve also added an image of Hojlund scoring. The Dane was one of the top performers in the game and scored twice. The story doesn’t include any photos of ten Hag even though he is the main character.

Captions: Captions accurately describe the moments that they are portraying. Photos have also been attributed to Dave Thompson.

Context: The author provides a lot of background which includes a flashback from the 1986–87 season and United’s reaction at that time, important results from recent fixtures such as the Bayern Munich and Crystal Palace games as well as the key highlights from Galatasaray match. The background is informative and makes the reader well aware of key details.

Overall

The article is a mixture of Erik ten Hags’s reaction to Manchester United’s poor start to the season and the Galatasaray encounter at Old Trafford.

The author’s use of a flashback from the 1986–87 season revealing how United addressed the problem when in a similar scenario suggests a growing concern of ten Hag possibly meeting the same fate.

The article also highlights key moments from the game against Galatasaray in the Champions League clearly and descriptively.

Additional points

• The story begins with a character (Erik ten Hag).
• The story includes an anecdote: 1986–87 season flashback.
• The author has spelt all names correctly.

How would I have changed the article?

• Come up with a better headline.
• Duration: Not repeat moments from the game twice which could have shortened the length of the story.
• Added quotes from other sources.
• Used an image of ten Hag as the main photo.

Reference Link
https://apnews.com/article/man-united-galatasaray-champions-league-ten-hag-97c5124b0521198df033719001f227e8