Manuel Ugarte was certainly in no rush to complement his own performance as Manchester United slipped up against FC Twente in the Europa League.
Taking to social media at full-time, the £42 million deadline day arrival from Paris Saint-Germain was keen to inform the Red Devils supporters who left Old Trafford underwhelmed once again that he is capable of far more.
Ugarte did not have ‘a great match ‘as Manchester United drew 1-1 with Twente on home soil, to quote the man himself.
And the telling thing, really, is that the all-action Uruguayan was still one of Manchester United’s better performers on the night. No one made more than Ugarte’s four tackles, level with right-back Noussair Mazraoui.
But Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo – the latter coming on shortly after Sam Lammers levelled for Twente – will have emphasised with Manuel Ugarte as the United newbie found himself left exposed in the centre of the park.
Manchester United duo blamed for Manuel Ugarte struggles against Twente
United legends Roy Keane and Gary Neville criticised Erik ten Hag’s tactics recently, feeling that the Dutchman’s flawed set-up leaves those in the centre of the park with far too much work to do and far too much ground to cover.
It was a weakness that had been noted in the visitor’s camp too. Pre-match, coach Joseph Oosting said Twente could ‘hurt’ Man United in transition.
And after Lammers stunned the home goalkeeper – Owen Hargreaves disappointed with the way Andre Onana was beaten at his near post – the Dutch media repeated what the English press have been saying almost on a weekly basis as those old failings were once again exposed.
Karim El-Ahmadi, the former Aston Villa and Feyenoord midfielder who started his career in Enschede, felt that the lack of defensive work provided by wingers Amad Diallo and Marcus Rashford – coupled with Ten Hag’s kamikaze gameplan – made it far easier than it should have been for Twente to create a numerical superiority.
“Ugarte is a player who is really good defensively,” said a bemused El-Ahmadi, via ESPN. “But if, for example, Diallo and Rashford don’t defend, then it happens that there is only two of them [in the middle],”
“That is where Twente [caused problems]. In the first-half, they could do it more often via Steijn, who is often available because [there is only] Ugarte and Eriksen in there.”
Erik ten Hag blames United attackers for missing chances
It was Christian Eriksen who both gave Man United the lead and gifted Twente the equaliser.
Arguably United’s most in-form player going into the game, Eriksen followed up his brace against Barnsley with a rattling shot into the top corner late in the first half.
Just after the hour mark, however, he was caught in possession just outside his own penalty area as Lammers dashed in.
Ten Hag, meanwhile, was disappointed that his charges failed to press home their advantage and kill the game off long before his beloved Twente equalised.
“We kept them alive. We are 1-0 up, controlling the game and you have to be consistent. You have to keep going,” said the former Ajax and Utrecht boss, speaking to the press.
“In the second-half, we dropped a level and we gave a goal away. We didn’t finish it off. We had to go for the second goal so they stay alive and then we get punished with a mistake from ourselves.
“If a player of Twente can dribble over the whole pitch without anyone stopping him… We can’t give a goal away like this. We had some good structures but you have to have consistency and keep going for the whole game.
“You have to go for the second.”
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