RedDevilsBlog.Com is a newly created blog with the singular purpose of bringing the stories from Manchester United
to fans in an invigorating way that will no doubt remind them of the glory days,
strenghthen them during this tough period and give them hope of the glory days that are sure to come sooner rather than later.
We shall follow Man United stories in a systematic order through various categories such as
Weekly Features, Player Features, Matchday Previews and Matchday Reviews, we shall make sure readers don't miss out on anything
Kobbie Boateng Mainoo (born 19 April 2005) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team.
Mainoo is a graduate of Manchester United's youth system and won the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award in 2023. He made his first-team debut in an EFL Cup match in January 2023. Mainoo played for England from under-17 youth level, before making his debut for the senior team in March 2024.
Antony graduated from the São Paulo academy and made his senior debut for the club in 2018. He moved abroad to Ajax in the summer of 2020, where he won two Eredivisie titles and one KNVB Cup during his two seasons. Antony's performances in the Netherlands led to a transfer worth €95 million (£82 million) to Manchester United, the highest sum paid for an Eredivisie player.
Antony won a gold medal with the Brazil under-23 team at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He then made his senior international debut and scored against Venezuela in October 2021, going on to represent Brazil at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Amad Diallo (born 11 July 2002), sometimes as Amad, is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a winger or midfielder for Premier League club Manchester United and the Ivory Coast national team.
Born in the Ivory Coast, Amad moved to Italy as a child. He joined the Atalanta youth system in 2015, where he won two Campionato Primavera 1 titles. In 2019, he scored on his debut for the senior team, making him the first player born in 2002 to score in Serie A. In January 2021, Amad joined English club Manchester United. He had loan spells at Rangers and Sunderland.
Amad made his senior international debut for the Ivory Coast in March 2021, in a 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification game.
Many would have already assigned the game at Villa Park as Ten Hags last game in charge of United or more accurately the games against Villa and Porto, the only problem though is that he didn't lose both games instead earning a draw in both, the noise you are still hearing are all sustained by the horror show against Tottenham at Old Trafford a week ago. At Villa United adopted a compact shape, not allowing Villa to play through the middle and it was indeed a bit comical seeing the Villa players try to force there way through the United midfield and drive towards goal, fortunately, the players have all learned their lessons and the embrassing circumtances of the Tottenham opening goal did not repeat itself. United legend Paul Scholes however does not like the fact that United will go to Villa and sit back hoping to play on the counter attack, but as much as he disapproves, United are still not in any shape to commandeer the game yesterday.
As much as Scholes didn't like the tactics Ten Hag used on Sunday it was still very effective as Villa were reduced to only 1 shot on target and 11 attempts, compared to United's usual numbers this was an extravagant upgrade. Many would have been suprised by the inclusion of Maguire and Evans at the heart of defence, but based on the perfomance of Martinez and De Ligt in rencent games this does not come as a suprise, Maguire did not manage to finish the game but Evans went all the way and onto a man of the match award. The attack was also sharp as well with Rashford bringing out two good saves out of Martinez, with the second grazing the cross bar, Fernandes also came close, hitting the cross bar from a dead ball.
Compared to United's recent perfomances this was an upgrade and hopefully the sporting board who were flanked by Sir Jim Rattcliff yesterday will give Ten hag the time he needs to sustain positive and effective change in the club.
Was their any believe that United could turn a new page after the chaos against Spurs, definetly as a fan, you always wanna see your team do well. When United scored two goals in quick successsion, that believe was starting to fester into something tangible but it was snuffed out just as quickly.
The game at Porto was of two sides of a coin, the bad aspects were just as prominent as the good, by the 20th minute mark United were 2 nil up, but instead of cruising, they shrank and sank. By 35 minutes it was 2-2 and it didn't get any better. 10 minutes into the second half, United lost the ball in attack and something we've already become familiar with last season and also seeing glances of this season, happened, an opposition player running through United's open midfield leading to a goal.
United have been making great progress this season but silly mistakes have cost the team a lot, thereby making all the progress null. If such mistakes are not addressed as soon as possible, it might cost Ten Hag his job.
Villa are a team that Erik Ten Hag has beaten 4 times out of the last 5, but if you did bet United to win today, you will be labelled mad by your mates and quite rightly so, United have been poor this season and once again the managers position is a hot topic and many believe he will be sacked soon as the Ineos executives have scheduled a meeting on Teusday to discuss the teams progress and weight their options.
The game at Villa Park will be a chance for Erik Ten Hag to convince United fans and most importantly the Sporting chiefs that when given enough time he will turn things around, now if history has thought us anything, it is that when the pressure reaches it's climax like this, the Dutchman always maneges to find a way. At Porto been a goal down, the manager brought in Maguire and Evans, as ironical as that sounds, Maguire did score the equalizer at the end of stoppage time.
Ten Hag will need a perfect game without blemish and all his players will have to give a 100 percent today, Villa are a team that beat Bayern Munich quite recently, they've tasted the blood of one European gaint and they will be hungry for another, stopping them will be an extremely hard job.
The game today is indeed a chance for redemption, most or maybe all will think of the manager when reading this headline, but I aim for both manager and players. Patrice Evra pointed out on Sky Sports that whenever United reach this stage, where if we don't win Ten Hag gets sacked, the manager always manages to pull the rabbit out of the hat, so we will be expecting a huge response from both players and manager today.
Alejandro Garnacho Ferreyra (born 1 July 2004) is proffessionl football who plays s a winger for Premeir League club Manchester United. Born in Spain, he plys for the Argentin national team. Garnacho joined Manchester United's youth system from Atletico Madrid in October 2020. He won the FA Youth Cup and the Jimmy MurphyYoung Player of the year award in May 2022. The month prior, he had made his first team debut at age 17.
My first take on the game on Sunday was that United were going to win no matter what, but the way they started the game was shocking and appaling. Sitting down and watching the game I could feel my skin crawling with disgust at such a perfomance, however I still believe that we coule have perfomed better in the second half, but the red card to our best player basically canceled out any chance we had of a comeback.
A call for a Ten Hag sack would not come as a suprise to anyone, at the end of his first season, the United manager had won a trophy ( United's first in six years) and his team had returned to the Champions League however since from then it has been a storm at M16 and countless voices have called for the managers sack, despite winning another trophy last season an eight place from the biggest football club of English football was unacceptable and many think Ten Hag should pay for it. New owners Ineos choose to stick with Ten Hag last season despite looking at other options and they still reiterated their support for the United manager in the midst of a poor start to the season.
If you are one who only follows the happenings of social media then you would probably be very suprised that the Dutchman is still in office, the keyboard warriors and analyst have all made it clear that they want Ten Hag sacked, I'm also one of them however unlike them I still fully support the manager, I have seen writers like me praise the manager all through that very eventfull first season however most of them have so quicly turned on the manager, one cannot blame them though as reporters we are suppose to write what we see however as a Man United supporter you should be obligated to use your voice as a source of inspiration to fans all over the world during this tough times.
The keyboard warriors might have turned on the manager but the one group that will always support the manager are the Old Trafford faithful, throughout his tenure as United manager there has never been calls for "Ten Hag Out" from the Old Trafford faithful and so it was for all the managers who have come and gone post Fergie. The tradition had ended 35 years ago when a banner at Old Trafford read "3 years of Excuses and it's still crap... TA RA FERGIE" thankfully United did not listen to the fans if not I wonder how different our history would have been. During his last speech as United manager on that noon of 2014, Fergie gave the Old Trafford faithfull one message which was "to support the manager", ten years on they have seen their beloved club turn into something unrecognisable but still follow Fergie's instructions without relenting. Hopefully Old Trafford will turn red one day in an emotional goodbye for Ten Hag from the Old Trafford faithful just like Fergie, off course not the one of 1989 but the one of 2014.
Against Tottenham, United were as awful as they could be, given away a goal under three minutes and conceding countless chances to Tottenham. The talking point of the game apart from how bad United were will be the red card shown to captain Bruno Fernandes, it was his first in United colors and many will argue that it was undeserved, while going into a tackle, Fernandes slipped and caught the spurs midfielder on his shin pads, refree Chris Kavanagh immediately showed the red card to the United skipper, but replays showed that he would have benefited from a second look via the pitch side monitors but the VAR did nothing to intervene.
The red card will as usual bring a lot of controversy some believe that it was red and some believe it wasn't, however former PL refree Chief Keith Hackett has laid out his own view on the issue, and these were his words "This was a very unfortunate slip by Bruno Fernandes on a disastrous afternoon for Manchester United. I can see why the referee may have decided this was worthy of a red card, as Fernandes looked to challenge James Maddison with Tottenham on the breakaway. However, after multiple viewings, I lean towards a yellow card. I feel the refree Chris Kavanagh would have benefitted from being asked to look at the incident again on the pitch-side monitor. He was in an excellent postion and the VAR would go with the refree's call- there was no way they would overturn this as they would say it is not a clear and obvious error- but giving him the benefit of multiple replays and angles could have resulted in a different decision."
The United skipper himself has bemoaned his luck, insisting his innocence following the incident, " I don't go in with the studs, I take him with my ankle, it's clear foul but never a red card" he told Sky Sports reporters. "Even Maddison when he gets up, he said said it was a foul but never a red card. You can see it's never a red card and if it is, we have to look at many other incidents. I have many other incidents against me and I've never seen it come so quick as a red card. The contact is not that strong. If he wants to give me yellow because it's a counter-attack, I agree and I don't know why VAR doesn't call the refree to the screen."
United were poor throughout the first half and a red card to their best player and skipper snuffed out any chance of a comback, United did not help theirselves by conceding early in the second half, at that point the game was already gone.
Throughout the week there were talks of Manchester United reducing the workload of Kobbie Mainoo to protect the yougnster from being burned out, therefore there wasn't much suprise when Ugarte started in his place against Twente, there was no grumbling also when Eriksen started, he has been a starter in United's last 3 games and contributed a total of 2 goals and 1 assist, it seemed to be going well for the veteran Erisen as he added another goal to his tally, smashing into the Twente net on 35 minutes. But for all their attacking threat, United could not add another which left the team from Holland with an oppurtunity to come back into the game. After squandering there only chance of the first half, the visitors who were mostly quiet for much of the evening suddenly bust into Life eight minutes after the hour mark, right-back Bart van Rooij cut through the United midfield, sliding past challenges and leaving Maguire on the ground, his charge was eventually halted by a sliding tackle from Ugarte, who then gave the ball to Eriksen and for a few seconds there the midfielder looked like he did not know what to do with the ball, unfortunately this is proffesional football and no matter the quality of the opposition you can't be clueless when facing your own goal. The ball was eventually stolen by striker Sam Lammers who made a beeline for the United goal, one on one with Onana, he decieved the United keeper by fainting a square pass but instead found the back of the net via the near post, for a moment there the Twente forward channeled his inner Kylian Mbappe and put his team level. Twente managed to hold on for the draw with goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall having to make an instinctual save from Harry Maguire in the very last minute, for Twente it felt like a win but for United it was two points dropped.
Twente is the club after Ten Hag's heart, a club he played and also served as an assitant manager along with former United coach McClaren, who was head coach. The duo won Twente's only Eredivisie title back in 2009, McClaren conceded that when he arrived at Twente, he noticed Erik's stamps all over the club, from the youth teams all the way to the senior squad, 13yrs later, the duo combined again for another stellar season, only this time they were at English Football's biggest club and the roles of Manager and Assistant had switched. Ten Hag admitts to watching FC Twente not as an analyst but as a fan, "I would have preffered to play against somebody else. It's not nice to hurt something you Love." As emotional as Ten Hag might be, he still needs to ensure his team are as ruthless as they were one week ago at Old Trafford against Barnsley, United have the most big chances missed in the Premeir League this seaon with 17, after scoring 7 without reply against Barnsley, one would not be questioned for suspecting the goal droughts to be over. But after the first half at Selhurst Park last weekend, one would also be right if he suspected United were jinxed, four big chances were wasted and former keeper Dean Henderson was beaten twice in two seconds, only his bar was not and the score remaind 0-0. The only reason Ten Hag is still Manager at United is the fact that he has won two trophies, the Europa League will be an excellent addition to the trophy cabinet, therefore his players cannot be as emeotional as he is later today.
During his customary press confrence before each game, Ten Hag said we were going to see a different United team at Selhurst Park and throughout the first half one might have quite easily mistaken the red side of Manchester for their blue fitting counterparts. By the 20th minute former goalkeeper Henderson had made 4 good saves, with the clearest chances falling to Garnacho and De Ligt, the former was brought in at the expense of Rashford and contrary to speculations, Ten Hag stressed it was mainly for tactical reasons and he got so agitated in his explanation that he called Pundit Jamie Redknapp "crazy" for suggesting otherwise, De Ligt had another excellent game at the back and going forward, his efforts showed that United are not going to be blunt and clueless anymore at corners and set pieces. United continued the game in the same manner, playing out excellently from the back, carving out the Palace midfield and creating chances galore, Zirkzee was inches away, Garnacho and Fernandes struck the bar within seconds of each other, the only difference between the first-half at Palace and the one at Old Trafford on Tuesday against Barnsley was that the scoreline read 0-0 instead of 3-0, it might have gotten worse for United had Eze managed to shoot at either side of Onana instead of straight at him after Mitchell managed to run behind a sleeping Amad to cut back for the Palace talisman who aimed a tamed effort straight at Onana, it was their only shot of the half.
A lot of people thought the only change in formations would be a first start in the Premeir League for new signing Ugarte but Ten Hag has always been a coach who believed in form therefore Eriksen kept his place, the United midfield that was a major problem last season looks so different to the extent that Ten Hag can chose two different sets of midfield three. The resurgence of Mount who is back from yet another injury and signing of Ugarte might have resulted in less playing time for Eriksen, but just like how Mctominay took the signing of Casemiro personal two years ago, Eriksen seems to have taken the signing of Ugarte personal, the midfielder who was close to leaving during the summer break has started United's last three games and has been United best midfielder ever since, scoring two goals, assisting one and serving expertly as the link between defence and attack. As mentioned above, many might have thought that Ugarte would be able to casually work into the United first team but just like Casemiro he will have to wait.
An afternoon that seemed like a wonderful one ended up been a frustrating on for United, they played arguably there best bit of football in the first-half but Palace learned there lesson and were more compact in the second half, eventually the game that was so one-sided suddenly looked like it had no clear winner, Onana had to make to excellent double saves in two seconds which I strongly believe where better than that of Raya during the week. Hopefully the habit of missing chances will be forgotten story now that Rasmus Hojlund is back, but for what it's worth, the game at Palace was indeed different and it showed a clear direction of where the team was heading.
A three nill win away at Southampton and a confident Marcus Rashford equals a horrible evening at Old Trafford for League One side Barnsley and it was. After a sloppy start in the first ten minutes, Rashford recieved a switch of play from Garnacho, weaved through two defenders and thumped the ball into the back of the net, from the moment the ball reached his feet, the Barnsley defence had no chance whatsoever. After the first goal, United never looked back, Antony a player who faces pressure and criticism perenially scored the second from the spot, the penalty was handed to him by another enstranged Brazillian Casemiro who captained the team. Many have questioned Erik Ten Hag's use of Garnacho, but the game against Barnsley proved Erik Ten Hag was right in using Garnacho sparingly,starting in his favorite left-wing, he was menace all game and scored two goals of his own while assisting Marcus Rashford for his second, by half time all three forwards have scored and United had already qualified for the third round the question was how many will they add.
The second half was definitely the best under Erik Ten Hag, Garnacho and Rashford added one each and Eriksen opened his tally for the season with one assist and two goals, Ten Hag was so merciless that he brought in Amad, Mazraoui and Fernandes while being five nill up. The United captain created six chances and assisted Eriksen for both his goals, United started the season with most big chances missed in the Premeir League but a tally of ten goals without reply in their last two games means a great improvement has been made, many will point out the quality of the opposition, but knowing United especially a United team that has not played with it's first choice center forward all season, this is great improvement. However the jury will come down against Erik Ten Hag and his team when they travel to Selhurst Park, a venue the brings bitter memories to United fans and most especially the United manager.
United returned to winning ways away at Southampton with a comfortable three nill win after Onana's heroics against Archer from the spot, De Ligt, Rashford and Garnacho were on the scoresheet, the win eased the pressure on manager Erik Ten Hag. The team will return to action later today against Barnsley in the Caraboa Cup, the EFL trophy was the first of two trophies won by Erik Ten Hag back in 2022 ending a six year wait for a trophy at Old Trafford. Below are the words from the United Manager.
