Manchester United are out of the Europa League after a 2-1 semi-final defeat to Sevilla.
Here is a look at five things we learned from the game….
Came out with the right energy
One of the complaints about United over the past month is that the team have looked tired and started matches slowly.
This was not the case here, with the team coming out the blocks quickly and winning a penalty within the first 10 minutes.
There was no controversy to it, with Marcus Rashford scythed down inside the box and in clear pain as a result. Bruno Fernandes stepped up to fire the penalty into the top corner and put United a goal up.
The only frustration was that United did not quickly double the lead, with Fred hitting the side netting minutes later.
The team paid the price, with Suso equalising after 25 minutes to take advantage of some slack defending.
Fred and Pogba partnership gave team a spark
Most had assumed that Nemanja Matic would come back into the starting line-up ahead of Fred for the semi-final.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had other ideas and picked the Brazilian midfielder alongside Paul Pogba.
It was a partnership which for the most part seemed to work. Fred was incredibly sharp winning the ball back and worked well with Pogba, and won more tackles than any player on the pitch.
Both players were key to United starting both halves strongly, and just needed a little more ruthlessness from the strikers, especially in the second half.
Failure to take chances hurts
United came out in the second half like a team possessed. But there were too many missed chances.
Mason Greenwood missed a clear cut opportunity, and Anthony Martial had two moments where he was through on the goalkeeper and could not beat him.
For 15 minutes after the break United threw everything at Sevilla, and failure to make that total dominance count was costly.
It almost felt inevitable afterwards that Sevilla would go on to score with a sucker-punch.
Defensive switch-offs costly
It is the end of a long season and the players are shattered, we get it. But the defensive lapses killed United here.
For the first goal Suso lost Brandon Williams easily and Harry Maguire was poorly positioned and unable to cut out the cross.
Victor Lindelof was the villain for Sevilla’s second goal as he seemed unaware of where Luuk de Jong was, and did not attempt to cut out the cross.
It is these moments, which added to the poor defending in the FA Cup semi-final, will make United question whether extra defenders are needed while the transfer window is open.
Where were the substitutes?
With the game poised at 1-1, United had a chance with 20 minutes to go to try and influence it in our favour.
Instead it took until the 86th minute for United to make a triple change.
It was too late. Sevilla had already rolled the dice, bringing on Luuk de Jong, who scored the decisive second goal.
Solskjaer’s faith in his starting XI is admirable, but he needs to be braver earlier with his substitutions.
- What concerns me about Ederson to Man Utd is that some fans want the deal off already
- Aurelien Tchouameni’s latest update is proof that Man Utd have cracked the hard part of this transfer
- Thomas Tuchel led England masterclass vs Mexico, but I still don’t want him managing Man United
- Elliot Anderson shows vs Mexico that Man Utd have done the hard part right, next step is crucial
- Manchester United plotting new bid to sign Felix Nmecha from Borussia Dortmund
- Ederson’s cameo vs Norway in Brazil’s loss proves Andrey Santos point about Man Utd’s rebuild
- Three reasons to get behind Manchester United move to sign Andrey Santos from Chelsea
- Casemiro was dominated by Man United target who produced 117-pass masterclass at World Cup
- Marcus Rashford has a new challenge to overcome after England’s win against Mexico
- What Brazil elimination now means for Ederson transfer to Manchester United
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
