Manchester United vs Twente Match Review

 

A Quick Downfall For Eriksen

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.

Marcus Rashford Dazzle While Fernandes Regress

Marcus Rashford has been a player on an upward curve since his goal against Southmapton a fortnight ago, he has since scored 2 more goals an added an assist. He was benched against Crystal Palace but returned to the line-ups last evening and was by far Uniteds best player throughout the game, he weaved through the Twente defence but the highlight of the night was the combination of an Elastico and nutmeg through the legs of the Twente captain Ricky Van Wolfswinkel who in those few seconds definitely had no idea where the ball was, after dribling pass the opposition, Rashford picked out Matinez free inside the box but his shot was to tame to cause real damage. Marcus Rashford was rightfully serenaded by the Old Trafford faithfull and he has started reminding those who turned against him last season just how good he is at his best. 

However a player who seemed to never experience a purple patch seemed to be going through one now, Bruno Fernandes has been by far United best player in the last four seasons but after recording just one assist this season it is fair to say Fernades is not at his best, usually the standout feature of his game is the high risk pass during a turnover or counter however these days the pass hardly reaches it's target, leaving his forwards frustrated. Recently United have played possesion football, preferring to build up play from the back, this feature has reduced the chances Fernandes has of making such passes and the re-introduction of Eriksen into the first team means that the veteran will now be incharge of set pieces and corners therefore it is easy these days to miss Fernandes in a game, however he still remains our best creator and will defitnetly put this purple patch behind him sooner rather than later.