Europa League talking points: Ugarte improved & Mazraoui experiment

In partnership with

Stretty News

·24 de octubre de 2024

Europa League talking points: Ugarte improved & Mazraoui experiment

Matchday 3 of the 2024/25 Europa League is in the books and Manchester United have drawn their third consecutive match in the competition.

It all seemed to be going to plan at half-time as Fenerbahce trailed thanks to a Christian Eriksen goal. United played well but knew they needed to do more to fight off their Turkish opponents.

OneFootball Videos

The hosts scored early in the second half when Youssef En-Nesyri found the back of the net with a header.

Without further ado, let’s dive deeper into tonight’s biggest talking points:

Manuel Ugarte much improved in Europa League start

Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images

The Uruguayan got a rare start in United’s midfield and didn’t disappoint. It took him 10 minutes to get going, but tonight we saw one of his best performances in the first half. He broke up play exactly like we want him to and contributed to the goal by winning the ball back and getting the ball forward to Joshua Zirkzee.

Noussair Mazraoui experiment didn’t work

Erik ten Hag thought everyone when he selected Noussair Mazraoui to play the Number 10 role in Bruno Fernandes’ absence. The Moroccan played a role in Christian Eriksen’s goal, but he didn’t have much influence on the game and United’s build up play through the middle was non-existent. He is good going forward but let’s keep him at full-back, shall we?

Guilty of switching off for equaliser

Perhaps the biggest criticism we can have about United this season is how poor we are at defending leads in games. It was the same story again tonight with poor defending to blame for Fenerbahce’s equaliser. Lisandro Martinez didn’t get across Youssef En-Nesyri, who headed home from close range. We switched off against FC Twente and FC Porto and now only have three points to show for after three matches. Andre Onana deserved a clean sheet after his heroic double save in the first half.