Decent effort at the end. But lets look at why United lost this game in the grand scheme of things. First of all Sevilla is not a top team, a good one, but not even a strong second-level one like Roma for example. United should beat them comfortably.
The loss was of course the result of the exact game and it's particularities, things being different even playing like that we could have won, theoretically. But in this loss some major things about current United became quite obvious.
1) Transfer policy.
Sanchez transfer is another example of a needless money splashing purchases that we have seen after Fergie. Is Sanchez a great player? Sure. But should have we gone for him? The answer is no. And not just because it's been month and he is nowhere to be found on the pitch, but more importantly his transfer completely upset the balance of the squad.
Take this exact match. Because he was rather bad against Liverpool in the center, Jose decides to move him to the left. Meanwhile our best player in the that Liverpool game Rashford goes to the right. What do we have against Sevilla? Another nowhere-to-be-found performance from Sanchez and now an average one from Rashford, because he is not really comfortable on the right. So if Sanchez is playing like shit and Rashford was really good why Alexis's position must be prioritized? Because we paid huge money for him in terms of overall package, salary and stuff. Money that even City refused to pay. And he is a big player, with big ego. Before Sanchez came here, Martial was founding his way, was our best player in that period even, now it looks like he might be gone come summer. And all of that for a 29-years old player who can't deliver.
2) Cowardly tactics away from home.
We were not exactly expansive today at OT as well. But this overall situation, Sevilla scores and we are in trouble is a direct result of our detestable tactics away from home against almost every worthwhile side. What decent away games from Jose's United you can remember? Some would say Arsenal one, but honestly Arsenal had like 30 shots then, they were simply unlucky not to score more and we were clinical on the break. It's not like United dominated and played really well, we won, but that's about it. Other than that even our approach to these top away games has been awful. And then we go to Sevilla and play for 0-0. We get this 0-0, thanks to De Gea, but then what? We just put much more pressure on us in the home game. So because of this fear of conceding United messes up the home game plan as well. You can't win CL or league playing like that away from home against strong sides. You must at least try dictate terms, at least in some periods and in some games.
3) Absence of attacking game/plan/style.
Basically United does not know how to attack. Completely. Not like a top team. Sure because we do have good players, even Sahcnez who is looking completely useless right now can occasionally make a good cross, a good through ball and Lukaku or smb else can score. We also have a route one option, a long punt to Lukaku or even Fellaini, they fight for it, we get the second ball or better yet Lukaku just wins the ball for our quick runners and Martial or Rashford score, like it was against Spurs and Liverpool. But ultimately that's Stoke tactics. And while it can be effective in some instances, that not a long-term solution. More importantly there will come a time, like today when a team would need a proper attacking pattern, an attacking play. Players smartly interchanging positions, not simply changing for a couple of minutes like Rash and Alexis today. We need runners from the deep, number 10 connecting players and overloading areas. When United had a ball today in like 80% of the cases the team was completely lost. Nobody simply knew what to do.
It seems like Jose's plan for attack is option A, a long ball to Lukaku or option B, "you think of something yourself". A time where that sort of football could have won you anything has long passed. Sure, United won Europa League, but just look at who we played, we simply "bought" that title actually, in terms of spending power and quality of players we were miles, literal miles ahead of everybody. And even then you can't really say that United played better than Celta, Anderlecht or even Rostov. Or Ajax in the final. In all of these games we were lucky in some moments and never actually comfortably beaten the opponents, like really overplayed them. And that was against much worse, poorer teams. We are currently second in PL as some always like to remember. But if being second best is enough for you, never winning anything major sure United does not need to improve it's attacking play. Simply because we have some good players and can buy more we can maintain 2-nd or maybe 3-rd position.
But if we want to become a great club once again, not just a top-4 team like Arsenal a couple seasons back, we need to rectify all that. Whether Mourinho can or even want to do it i don't know. Whether club's bosses are content with that all things considered i don't know either. But i for one wanna see a different United. And even if means that we need to risk and that club might be out of top-4 for a season or even two, i'd take it. I'd take it to see something like that last title we have won, with crazy wins like against Villa, Newcastle. A team that could have gone to main rivals, City's, home and beat them not 0-1, but 2-3 in the last minute. Our last season under Fergie was not all good and it was not a classic. But the main thing is not even the title itself, but the simple fact that i enjoyed our play, even when United played so-so or badly, i could have felt the team. Right now... I don't. did i enjoy our win against Liverpool? I can't say that. I was relieved we won and happy for Rashford. But other than that, having ball 30% of the time at home, basically not even trying to attack the whole second half. That's not really a "United" for me. I don't think that result is the only thing that matters in football, because you watch the game, you watch for 90 minutes. You don't just browse the final score and say "well done lads". So i would very much encourage a change in current United team. If Jose can himself change or adapt at least fine, if not well it's also fine, but i don't think he will be here much longer.
The loss was of course the result of the exact game and it's particularities, things being different even playing like that we could have won, theoretically. But in this loss some major things about current United became quite obvious.
1) Transfer policy.
Sanchez transfer is another example of a needless money splashing purchases that we have seen after Fergie. Is Sanchez a great player? Sure. But should have we gone for him? The answer is no. And not just because it's been month and he is nowhere to be found on the pitch, but more importantly his transfer completely upset the balance of the squad.
Take this exact match. Because he was rather bad against Liverpool in the center, Jose decides to move him to the left. Meanwhile our best player in the that Liverpool game Rashford goes to the right. What do we have against Sevilla? Another nowhere-to-be-found performance from Sanchez and now an average one from Rashford, because he is not really comfortable on the right. So if Sanchez is playing like shit and Rashford was really good why Alexis's position must be prioritized? Because we paid huge money for him in terms of overall package, salary and stuff. Money that even City refused to pay. And he is a big player, with big ego. Before Sanchez came here, Martial was founding his way, was our best player in that period even, now it looks like he might be gone come summer. And all of that for a 29-years old player who can't deliver.
2) Cowardly tactics away from home.
We were not exactly expansive today at OT as well. But this overall situation, Sevilla scores and we are in trouble is a direct result of our detestable tactics away from home against almost every worthwhile side. What decent away games from Jose's United you can remember? Some would say Arsenal one, but honestly Arsenal had like 30 shots then, they were simply unlucky not to score more and we were clinical on the break. It's not like United dominated and played really well, we won, but that's about it. Other than that even our approach to these top away games has been awful. And then we go to Sevilla and play for 0-0. We get this 0-0, thanks to De Gea, but then what? We just put much more pressure on us in the home game. So because of this fear of conceding United messes up the home game plan as well. You can't win CL or league playing like that away from home against strong sides. You must at least try dictate terms, at least in some periods and in some games.
3) Absence of attacking game/plan/style.
Basically United does not know how to attack. Completely. Not like a top team. Sure because we do have good players, even Sahcnez who is looking completely useless right now can occasionally make a good cross, a good through ball and Lukaku or smb else can score. We also have a route one option, a long punt to Lukaku or even Fellaini, they fight for it, we get the second ball or better yet Lukaku just wins the ball for our quick runners and Martial or Rashford score, like it was against Spurs and Liverpool. But ultimately that's Stoke tactics. And while it can be effective in some instances, that not a long-term solution. More importantly there will come a time, like today when a team would need a proper attacking pattern, an attacking play. Players smartly interchanging positions, not simply changing for a couple of minutes like Rash and Alexis today. We need runners from the deep, number 10 connecting players and overloading areas. When United had a ball today in like 80% of the cases the team was completely lost. Nobody simply knew what to do.
It seems like Jose's plan for attack is option A, a long ball to Lukaku or option B, "you think of something yourself". A time where that sort of football could have won you anything has long passed. Sure, United won Europa League, but just look at who we played, we simply "bought" that title actually, in terms of spending power and quality of players we were miles, literal miles ahead of everybody. And even then you can't really say that United played better than Celta, Anderlecht or even Rostov. Or Ajax in the final. In all of these games we were lucky in some moments and never actually comfortably beaten the opponents, like really overplayed them. And that was against much worse, poorer teams. We are currently second in PL as some always like to remember. But if being second best is enough for you, never winning anything major sure United does not need to improve it's attacking play. Simply because we have some good players and can buy more we can maintain 2-nd or maybe 3-rd position.
But if we want to become a great club once again, not just a top-4 team like Arsenal a couple seasons back, we need to rectify all that. Whether Mourinho can or even want to do it i don't know. Whether club's bosses are content with that all things considered i don't know either. But i for one wanna see a different United. And even if means that we need to risk and that club might be out of top-4 for a season or even two, i'd take it. I'd take it to see something like that last title we have won, with crazy wins like against Villa, Newcastle. A team that could have gone to main rivals, City's, home and beat them not 0-1, but 2-3 in the last minute. Our last season under Fergie was not all good and it was not a classic. But the main thing is not even the title itself, but the simple fact that i enjoyed our play, even when United played so-so or badly, i could have felt the team. Right now... I don't. did i enjoy our win against Liverpool? I can't say that. I was relieved we won and happy for Rashford. But other than that, having ball 30% of the time at home, basically not even trying to attack the whole second half. That's not really a "United" for me. I don't think that result is the only thing that matters in football, because you watch the game, you watch for 90 minutes. You don't just browse the final score and say "well done lads". So i would very much encourage a change in current United team. If Jose can himself change or adapt at least fine, if not well it's also fine, but i don't think he will be here much longer.
