Europa League Group Stage: 9/15/2016 Feyenoord 1–0 Manchester United

Starting XI: De Gea, Darmian, Bailly, Smalling, Rojo, Schneiderlin, Herrera, Mata (Memphis 63’), Pogba, Martial (Young 63’), Rashford (Zlatan 63’)

United suffer their second loss in a week, and first in European competition this season, in 1–0 defeat to Feyenoord

This was a rough performance. United looked bad for the entire match, failing to provide much of a threat at any point, and doing just enough defensively to remain tied at 0–0 until Feyenoord’s go-ahead goal with about 10 minutes remaining. The whole squad just looked out of sorts, with no real cohesion and a seeming inability to decide how to attack as a unit. There was no quick passing and intelligent runs in the final third. There were no attempts to run down the flank and cross the ball in for a chance. Most attempts at 1v1 take-ons seemed to fail. There was just a complete lack of chemistry and coordination. I’m hoping this is just due to the starting XI being drastically different from league play, with a few players making their first starts of the season and playing in a different formation (4–3–3) than we’ve seen used by Mourinho recently. While I was excited to see the change in formation and the new players given an opportunity to prove themselves, a lack of both time spent with the formation and time on the pitch may have proved too significant to allow for a smooth opening fixture in the Europa League.

Since I can’t find any stats on FourFourTwo for the Europa League, I was going to just skip the Offensive/Defensive player spotlights in lieu of an in depth look at any goals scored, but since United couldn’t even manage one I’ll just take a look at Feyenoord’s goal and how their scorer got so wide open. It’s tough to decide who exactly who should have been marking him, but it’s clear the formation discipline was severely lacking. The play starts with Rojo way too far up the field, so much so that both Schneiderlin and Herrera are both behind him, with Smalling and Bailly shifting over to adjust. Once Bailly’s man gets separation chasing a (possibly offside) through ball, it’s an easy cross to the unmarked man for a simple finish as Herrera hustles over too late to cover. While it may have technically been Herrera’s responsibility to cover him, the defense’s shape was in a tough spot from the start, as Rojo’s placement required Herrera and Schneiderlin to mark two men in the space he had vacated. I suppose Pogba could’ve marked him, as he wasn’t actively marking anyone while all this is going on, but he’s probably supposed to be an outlet for the defense to quickly get the ball upfield, and the defense technically had numbers on their side despite being poorly positioned. Basically, Rojo went too far up, the midfield had to cover, everyone got bunched on the left side of the field, and Feyenoord ended up with a player wide open.

This isn’t all to take anything away from Feyenoord, necessarily. They played fairly well, with a strong turnout by the home crowd, and certainly deserved to win. It’s just disappointing to see United play so poorly after losing a huge fixture to City, with another game just days away. I suppose if Mourinho’s going to experiment with the roster and give some players playing time, the group stage of the Europa League is a good place to do it, but the lack of any noticeable individual quality today is rather discouraging. Hopefully they can quickly shake it off and get ready for the next game.

Next Up: Away at Watford on Sunday