The night Ten Hag got too funky
After scoring one great goal, United were undone by overthinking
FIVE ASIDES Europa League: Real Sociedad 0, United 1
United were good, but not good enough. This was both a modest triumph – a win in Spain! – and a minor disaster, because, by not finding that crucial second goal, they condemned themselves to two extra games, against tough opposition, in February, when the fixture list was already shaping up as a nightmare. To be fair, United suffered a miscarriage of justice when Real Sociedad won at Old Trafford with a penalty that should never have been given. But, to be fairer still, there had been time to right that wrong and ultimately they had only themselves to blame for missing out on goal difference. Their victories over the minnows of Omonia Nicosia both came by a single goal, whereas Sociedad, on their trip to Cyprus, won 2-0. Like a 15-year-old boy doing his homework, United have made a habit of delivering the bare minimum. In the league, against Southampton, Leicester and West Ham, they have got away with it, but not here.
Cristiano Ronaldo contributed one killer pass and hardly anything else. His assist for Alejandro Garnacho confirmed that against continental defences, who come bearing time and space, the old boycan still rustle up the old magic. In the Europa League this season, Ronaldo has four goal involvements in 531 minutes. In the Premier League he has one in 430 – a shadow of his former stats. The man who was the master of the Champions League for so long has now found his level, one division down. If Anthony Martial was fit, Ronaldo would be a Europa League specialist.
We knew Alejandro Garnacho had vast promise and he is already delivering on it. His winning goal, in only his third senior appearance, was a beauty. He got lucky with Ronaldo’s through ball, perfectly weighted and measured, but his response to it was thrillingly accomplished. He was rapid, decisive and totally committed, throwing himself into the shot even though (or perhaps because) it was on his weaker foot. This was a moment to remember, a first fine careless rapture.
Erik Ten Hag, so assured over the past month , suddenly got too funky. He may know his away around the 3-3-1-3 formation, having used it as a plan B at Ajax, but most of his players don’t. Harry Maguire was sent on as an extra striker and got in the way, predictably, because he didn’t know where to put himself. When he popped up on the left wing, you just knew the quest for that second goal was doomed. With Ronaldo still on the field and Casemiro so good at ghosting into the box, United had more than enough target men. Maguire was a parody of a proper centre-forward – the homeless man’s Erling Haaland.
Marcus Rashford was also out of position after being sent on as a No 10. He may become one when he’s 35, but now it’s only the third-best place for him. He and Ronaldo, lining up one behind the other, were the wrong way round: Rashford’s pace was wasted in midfield, while Ronaldo’s lack of it became more glaring as his legs tired. And it wasn’t as if United were stuck for a No 10. Their regular one was on the field for the whole game – Bruno Fernandes – yet he found himself exiled to the right flank as Donny van de Beek, classy but rusty, was preferred as the starting 10. Fernandes may be hit-and-miss but with his passionate urgency, on a night like this, he should have been the man in the middle. Instead he was one of several men in a muddle.
Tim de Lisle writes about sport for The Guardian and music for The Mail on Sunday. If you’re on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing.