Manchester United have been left with their tails between their legs as Erik ten Hag’s men crashed out of the Europa League on Thursday night, with La Liga side Sevilla comfortably dispatching the Reds with a 3-0 win.
The victory in Seville secured a 5-2 aggregate win over United and the performance could very well go down as one of United’s worst in the last 10 years.
United were off the pace from the first minute, completely overawed by the atmosphere in Andalusia and Sevilla’s determination to win the game.
Ten Hag has improved United greatly but the loss falls in line with many other woeful performances which could put a damper on what can still be a special season. Speaking after the game, the manager delivered his verdict on the proceedings.
“We have to do better, that’s the demand. We were not composed, not calm. We didn’t beat the press, when you do there are so many spaces behind, and it was obvious at the start how to do it,” he told BT Sport, via the BBC.
“We lost the battles, they had more passion, more desire, more willingness, that’s difficult to win games.
“We can’t run away from it. On Sunday we have another opportunity and have to step up and show more character and personality.
“It’s not about them [the players they were missing], it’s about the players on the pitch. They have to perform, I believe in them and trust them but they have to show it and they were not good enough.
“We have shown on so many occasions good things but tonight we weren’t ready for the game. At this level, playing for Manchester United, you have to be ready for every game.
“This was a great opportunity, a great occasion, to win something and we gave it away – we have to blame ourselves. It’s gone, we can’t change it. We have to look forward to Sunday, that’s the next opportunity.”
SN’s verdict…
Crashing out of Europe is certainly a big blow for United, especially considering they were heavy favourites to go all the way and you would not have put it past them. They had already eliminated their greatest threat to the trophy in Barcelona.
Ten Hag’s biggest task will be to make sure that United’s season does not unravel, as we have seen can happen in recent campaigns after a European exit.
