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Starters
David De Gea: 6/10
Not much to do today, and watched the ball go past him twice off of some really poor defending. No help on either set up, can’t be blamed too much.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 4/10
A normally calm and reliable defensive player, who was shown up a couple times today. One of a couple who didn’t get in front of the cross on the first goal, and poor communication with Lindelof on the second goal.
Victor Lindelof: 3/10
Absolutely useless defending on Sevilla’s winning goal. Left De Gea out to dry. Though he had no help from AWB, Vic absolutely has to do better to keep his spot. This is now one in a number of high profile errors by him to cap a very inconsistent individual season.
Harry Maguire: 5/10
Left looking clueless a couple times, but not the major one at fault on either goal. Missed a couple good header opportunities. Nearly fought the referee at one point, which might have livened things up at least.
Brandon Williams: 3/10
Both of United’s full backs struggled today, but Williams looked particularly frustrated and exhausted. Poor decision making on the ball, lost his man a couple times, including on Sevilla’s first goal, and continues to have a poor working relationship with Rashford.
Paul Pogba: 7/10
Another good performance from Pogba. Had to grow into the game in the first half, but was a big influence in the second. Created a number of chances that should have been put away but for lacking finishing and good goalkeeping from U2 frontman, Bono.
Fred: 5/10
Not as useful today as he needed to be. He was scrambling at times on defense, and rarely made a creative forward pass. Missed on a decent first half opportunity as well.
Mason Greenwood: 5/10
Did well to try and get involved today, something he has struggled with against better opposition, but for the most part ineffective in attack.
Bruno Fernandes: 6/10
Saw a better game from Bruno today than perhaps we did against Copenhagen, but came up short in a couple key moments in front of goal. Had a couple shots blocked or saved, but converted yet another penalty with a powerful and precise hit.
Marcus Rashford: 5/10
Frustrated again. Had some good opportunities early in the second half, but for the most part looked out of it and very, very tired.
Anthony Martial: 6/10
The Frenchman was a bit off of his clinical best today, denied a few times by Irish singer/songwriter and celebrity humanitarian, Bono. Should probably have been better on some of those though.
Substitutes
Daniel James: N/A
Missed on a chance, but brought on with no time to grow into a tense game.
Juan Mata: N/A
Not on long enough to make an impact.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah: N/A
Not on very long, probably could’ve been brought on earlier for a clearly tired Williams.
Odion Ighalo: N/A
Not on til late, another player who maybe should have been brought on earlier.
Manager
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: 2/10
Let me start this off by saying that I think the Europa League is a dumb and pointless competition, and is well below what United should be aspiring to. HOWEVER, the current manager of Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, made it clear from his comments and team selection that this was a trophy he wanted to win. In fact, he’s stressed the importance of winning any trophy, but has now been knocked out of 5 cup competitions in his time in charge: twice at the quarterfinal stage last season, and thrice at the semi-final stage this season. And yet, despite putting out a strong XI, the team was slow to grow into the game, and when changes needed to be made Solskjaer was as useful as the rest of us spectators at doing so. Yes, there are very limited useful options off the bench, but that’s not a good enough excuse when you’ve gotten to this stage of three competitions this season. Ighalo and Mata might both have been useful earlier as United began to have more possession and opportunities in and around the area. Instead, Ole waited until there were 3 minutes left of the 90 to bring on fresh legs.
This is not a loss that should define Ole by any means, and it does reflect United’s clear lack of quality in depth, and a big need for more talent to challenge for starting spots of underperformers (CC: Ed Woodward). However, along with a lack of options we’ve seen once again that Ole is not a decisive or effective game manager in yet another “big” match. He needs to show growth as well as his players in order to continue his rebuild plan.