Manchester United suffered a disappointing result in their Europa League opener, drawing Dutch side Twente 1-1, with veteran Christian Eriksen giving and taking away with a goal and a crucial error in the match.
But Eriksen actually wasn’t the main player who cost Manchester United snagging all three points against Twente, even if his awful loss of possession was a key moment in Sam Lammers’ goal for the underdogs.
On that very play, center back Harry Maguire was nutmegged, and unlike Eriksen, he wasn’t having a good game aside from an error. Maguire has been poor throughout his tenure at Manchester United, and it has become impossible to justify starting him.
Maguire didn’t seem like he was even at Twente’s level, barely making interventions and showing no real progression with his passing, which is allegedly a strength of his.
Goalkeeper Andre Onana also cost Manchester United with his woeful goalkeeping, as positional discipline continues to be an issue for a talented keeper who can never truly be trusted or anywhere near world-class because of the most basic of deficiencies.
For example, look at Onana’s positioning on this goal. Why is he giving up so much of the near post when that is the most obvious place the striker will put the shot?
Onana then makes another amateur error by failing to locate the ball as it is being shot, instead flapping at the shot helplessly without tracking it with his eyes, leading to a hapless save attempt that would have been rudimentary for most goalkeepers playing for clubs as big as Manchester United.
Maguire and Onana flopping is bad enough, but Manchester United were really shot in the foot by another lackadaisical performance from attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes, who has been a far cry from his 2023/24 form.
Fernandes looked like a passenger, just meandering about the pitch while creating little of note for his teammates. It was an example of the “bad Bruno” where he plays for himself and not the team, completing dribbles to nowhere and failing to track or support the attacking structure with his passing.
Manchester United never looked likely to score more than once, and their leading light in midfield’s wayward display was a big part of that. The Red Devils need Fernandes to be more of a leader on European nights. He was shocking on this night.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.