Three things we learned as Manchester United beat Real Sociedad 1-0

Manchester United beat Real Sociedad in the final Europa League group match on Thursday night.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to top Group E, as we needed to beat La Real by at least two goals — and only managed to do so by one.

Alejandro Garnacho’s first senior goal was a proud moment, but it was not enough for United on the night. It means we finish second in the group and now must play a play-off round ahead of the Round of 16.

Not the result we wanted, but it was our ninth consecutive win

Say I’m clutching for straws all you like, but I don’t think we should get too downbeat over the result. United won another match to take our winning run to 9 games. Runs like that were non-existent last season. We missed out due to a dodgy VAR call against Real Sociedad in the reverse fixture. It was never a penalty.

Van de Beek rarely touched the ball

For a player getting another chance tonight, I expected better from Van de Beek and I’m not beginning to have real concerns for his future. He offered nothing tonight and neither did Bruno Fernandes on the right. That idea didn’t come off for Erik ten Hag.

Ten Hag’s subs don’t pay off

United found themselves in a good position at half-time, winning 1-0. After several chances, which saw Harry Maguire come up for upfront and United revert to three at the back, we appeared to lose our shape. I don’t blame the manager because he threw the kitchen sink at La Real. We just didn’t create enough clear cut chances.

More Stories Donny van de Beek Erik ten Hag Manchester United Real Sociedad

3 Comments

  1. Dale-you seem to be quite obsessed with DVB. It was his first start in almost a year. He was poor bit united had no control of the game at all so not sure what was expected. Eriksen was a liability tonight and though wasteful I though Bruno showed promise on the right. Also what’s funny is that united were far worse after taking Donny off. Although that prob had more to do with how bad Rashford and mct were. The performance from most players was really poor except ofc the back 6. They were good. But the rest. Very poor.

    And as for the manager. ETH got it all wrong tonight after the Break. He seemed to make it up as he went along and at the end it was just plain weird. Can hardly blame the players in the end. This was all on ETH

  2. I agree with you Dixon, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the second half subs and direction of play.. ETH really got it wrong this time

  3. I think tonight showed just how much we really need to get a quality striker in January.
    Also when Donny went off why didn’t Ten Hag shift Bruno back to ten and bring on young Pellistre. He is a natural winger and down the flanks is where we were having the most success with our attacks

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