Exhilarating, then boring, then exasperating
Sabitzer's finest hour was ruined by a mad ten minutes
FIVE ASIDES Europa League, quarter-final, first leg: United 2, Sevilla 2
This match had it all. It was a game not of two halves, but of three thirds – exhilarating for 25 minutes, boring for the next hour, and suddenly exasperating from the 84th minute onwards. There are two Man Uniteds, there are two Sevillas, and all four teams were on display here. United were slick and fluid at first, then sloppy and disjointed; Sevilla stodgy and jaded, then spirited and sparky. They looked every inch a team who are having a poor season, until they remembered that they practically own the Europa League.
Were United unwise, or just unlucky? A bit of both. Their luck went from bad (Bruno Fernandes’s booking for a handball he couldn’t avoid) to worse (the double deflection that brought the first own goal), on to worse still (Lisandro Martinez’s injury) and finally even worse than that (a third fatal deflection, a second OG). To concede one own goal looks like carelessness, to concede two may be just a misfortune: for once, the size of Harry Maguire’s head was not a plus. But United did have some things to kick themselves about. Erik ten Hag, who said he had no choice with the substitutions, reeled off his reasons while leaving out the decision to replace Jadon Sancho with Anthony Elanga. That was the move he didn’t have to make, and if he’d refrained, it would have allowed him to bring on Victor Lindelof when Martinez was carried off. Antony, who had played pretty well, got into a silly duel with Marcos Acuna. Rule of thumb: don’t pick a fight with an Argentinian, especially if you’re from Brazil.
Tyrell Malacia managed to mess up at both ends in the space of two minutes. He had the chance to bury Sevilla when Wout Weghorst – unselfish to a fault – teed him up in space near the penalty spot. His shot was tame and , as so often happens, the tie hinged on that moment. What should have been 3-0 turned into 2-1 as Malacia, back in his own box, misjudged a looping ball and lost track of a wily old fox lurking behind him. If that was bad judgment from a mercurial young defender, there was, again, an element of bad luck as well – the fact that Luke Shaw wasn’t fit. He would have enjoyed crossing swords again with Jesus Navas.
United may have gone up in flames at the end, but they were on fire at the start. They played as they had in the first half against Everton, full of intensity and dynamism. Ten Hag got the selection right, sticking with Marcel Sabitzer as the No 10, even though Casemiro and Christian Eriksen were both available for the first time since January, which could have freed Fernandes to resume the day job. That bet paid off handsomely as Sabitzer turned into a false 10, taking over at centre-forward while Anthony Martial went roving. Martial was at his best, showing deftness and vision, almost as if he had something to prove to the club where he spent a fruitless loan last year. He and Fernandes both slipped inch-perfect perpendicular passes into Sabitzer, who put both away with his left foot and made up for the absence of Marcus Rashford. Sabitzer’s movement in the box is so sharp, and his finishing so clinical, that you wonder if he shouldn’t be the back-up striker.
Do we mind that much if United don’t make a third semi-final this year? Something has got to give. The last nine games in the league will be a lot more manageable if there are two or three cup fixtures alongside them, rather than five or six. I’m not suggesting Ten Hag should field a weakened team in Sevilla – or no weaker than the fates have already decreed. United can give it a good go there, knowing that they are now the underdogs in the tie. Their record in Spain, which might have filled them with gloom a year ago, has become encouraging: two wins and a draw this season, the draw (in Barcelona) even better than the wins. It’s just that it won’t be a heartbreaker if they miss out, and in my book the same goes for the FA Cup semi-final. Beggars, of course, can’t be choosers; but since the League Cup triumph, United don’t have to beg any more.
Tim de Lisle is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter for The Guardian. If you’re on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing. If you received this piece by email, please feel free to forward it to any fellow supporters.