In a rotten mood right now due to this loss so I’ll keep it short. Manchester United lost 3-0 (5-2 on aggregate) early today in Spain. De Gea and Maguire gave away the first one, a cheap giveaway by Casemiro in midfield led to the second one, and De Gea gave away the third late in the game with a bad clearance. Absolutely terrible from him and Maguire today, but the whole team was poor. The absence of Bruno (suspension) was glaring, both tactically and in terms of the team’s energy. There was no fight in this team for large portions of the game, and that is simply unacceptable. United choked this tie away. They were 2-0 up at Old Trafford last Thursday with 7 minutes to go, only to concede two own goals in the final minutes. Then the calamity of today happened. Manager Erik ten Hag labelled the team’s effort as “unacceptable” in his post match interview, and he is absolutely right.
United’s away form in big games is worrying. They seem to play well at Old Trafford, but this team is mentally fragile if things go wrong in a hostile environment. The injuries to regular starters are one thing, but this team was more than capable of beating what is really an average Sevilla side. An absolute choke job, through and through. Credit to Sevilla and their supporters for creating an absolute cauldron of an atmosphere inside that stadium.
De Gea has to go in the summer, unfortunately. His shot-stopping is great, but in ETH’s style of play the keeper has to be much better at distributing the ball to build the play out from the back. He consistently makes mistakes in distribution that lead to chances for the opposition, and today he was punished for it. Maguire didn’t help things, but De Gea clearly does not fit in this style of play, and we need a keeper who does.
The silver lining here is that this now lightens the schedule a little bit and the players won’t have to play in as many matches. The squad is incredibly thin right now due to injuries and we need to now focus on finishing in the top-4 and qualifying for the Champions League next season. Had we won the Europa League we would have also qualified, but that is no longer possible.
Next up is the not-small matter of the FA Cup Semifinal against Brighton on Sunday at Wembley Stadium. Brighton are a well-coached team with some very talented players, so United will need to shake off this match and get mentally ready. The return of Bruno will help, but the whole squad is going to need to lift their level of play. The FA Cup is the last chance United have of winning another trophy this season.
4-4-2 