Undiluted woe for United, unbridled joy for Southampton – Thursday’s Europa League matches were a study in contrast. Here’s how the two ties panned out.
Fenerbahce 2 Manchester United 1
Injuries, goal droughts and a manager publicly shaming his players; dropping to third in their Europa League group was the least of Manchester United’s worries following a dreadful performance in Turkey.
Even Wayne Rooney (8.6) scoring for only the second time in 14 matches this season did little to lift the gloom on a night of unremitting negativity for the Red Devils.
Paul Pogba (8.2) limped off with a thigh injury that makes him a doubt for Sunday’s trip to Swansea. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (11.2) replaced him and again failed to score – he now has just one goal from his last 11 matches – while the team as a whole enjoyed 70% possession but did precious little with it.
A makeshift defence missing Eric Bailly (5.4), Antonio Valencia (5.5) and Chris Smalling (5.9) conceded a goal within two minutes and never recovered. Only the latter, who has a knock, is a short-term injury worry and the pair drafted in as centre-halves in Turkey, Daley Blind (5.8) and Marcos Rojo (5.2), looked uneasy all night.
Coach Jose Mourinho started Ander Herrera (6.3), who is suspended domestically, and Morgan Schneiderlin (4.6) in midfield in a bid to give Juan Mata (7.4) a rest. But the pair produced so little that the Spaniard was brought on at half-time.
By then, the die had been cast, as Mourinho was quick to point out post-match.
“A team that concedes after two minutes is a team that is not ready, not mentally prepared, not focused, not concentrated.”
Summer signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan (8.9) replaced the ineffectual Marcus Rashford (6.9) for the final half hour but had little impact, with Mourinho talking down his immediate prospects.
“He has to do more. That is as simple as that. We have big expectations in the club and lots of players for these positions. He has to play better than Mata and Lingard and Martial, and it’s a simple as that.”
After such a night to forget, the same could be said of the whole side.
Swansea City will suddenly fancy their chances of a Gameweek 11 “upset”, with United’s squad currently looking bereft of assets to tempt even a cursory glance from us Fantasy managers.
Manchester United XI: de Gea, Darmian, Blind, Rojo, Shaw, Herrera, Schneiderlin (Mata 45), Pogba (Ibrahimovic 30), Rashford (Mkhitaryan 61), Rooney, Martial.
Subs not used: Romero, Jones, Young, Fellaini.
Southampton 2 Internazionale 1
The Saints exorcised any demons left over from their unfortunate loss in the San Siro by grabbing a glorious win against their Italian opponents in the reverse fixture.
Inter had pinched victory against the run of play in Italy and threatened to repeat the trick when they scored from their first shot of the match at St Mary’s.
But a Virgil van Dijk (5.4) equaliser, after Oriol Romeu (4.5) had hit the bar, and then a Yuto Nagatomo own goal from a Dusan Tadic (7.2) cross turned everything round in a blistering second-half performance.
Tadic had blown a chance to level the match just before the break when he had a penalty saved. Charlie Austin (6.7), who was not on the pitch at the time, should remain the club’s spot-kick man if Tadic’s weak effort is anything to go by.
Austin came on in the second half, replacing Jay Rodriguez (6.3), one of five changes coach Claude Puel had made from the side that lost to Chelsea on Sunday.
In came Maya Yoshida (4.3), Sam McQueen (4.5) James Ward-Prowse (5.1) and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (4.3).
Puel has generally juggled his resources well, but the workload for two of his attacking stars, Tadic and Nathan Redmond (6.0), has been high. Record signing Sofiane Boufal (6.8) was again on the bench, but played no part. Whether that suggests he will figure in Sunday’s trip to Hull remains to be seen.
The 12.8%-owned Austin, however, looks almost nailed-on for a start at the weekend.
Southampton XI: Forster, Martina, Yoshida, van Dijk, McQueen, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Højbjerg, Redmond, Tadic (Davis 76), Rodriguez (Austin 58).
Subs not used: Lewis, Clasie, Fonte, Boufal, Bertrand.
