FLYING YEDDER STUNS UNITED
Sub hits two in four minutes as Jose pays for lack of ambition
By THE time the last Manchester United player left the pitch, the stadium had already close to emptied. Only one pocket of noise and jubilation remained, Sevilla’s support, bouncing and boisterous, singing in Spanish to the same melody that accompanies ‘Will Grigg’s on fire’.
Wissam Ben yedder’s on fire doesn’t scan, but he was and as a result Manchester United are out of Europe. An excellent performance by the away team, full of the ambition United failed to show over two matches, was only half the tale, though.
It is well known that a 0-0 first leg is a dangerous score, but it is not as dangerous as United made it look last night with a performance lacking in all the qualities that once made them such a force in this competition — a club who won it, twice, under Sir Alex Ferguson and often went deep.
United haven’t travelled beyond this stage since 2014 and didn’t really look like doing it last night, either. If Sevilla could have found their range earlier, this tie would not have taken so long to conclude. As it was the addition of Ben yedder — a striker rejected by West Ham for being too small, apparently — changed the game.
He has been Sevilla’s top scorer in Europe this season, but has not started either game against United. Once introduced in the 72nd minute, however, he gave Sevilla a momentum and impetus United did not demonstrate in three hours of knockout football. Sevilla got what they deserved; United, too.
yet it shouldn’t have been as fraught and frustrating as this. Jose Mourinho picked a midfield in Marouane Fellaini and Nemanja Matic that lacked creation and those farther forward, Alexis Sanchez and Jesse Lingard, could not get into the game. It was crying out for Juan Mata but by the time he was introduced the tie was as good as over. He made a goal for Romelu Lukaku but by then there were six minutes left and United needed two more.
Meanwhile, the noise around Old Trafford was telling its own tale. The stunned silence when the goals went in, the frustration of the boos at the end. This was a long, long way from what was expected; and a long, longer way from what was good enough.
This was an uninspired, cautious display that ended in humiliation on their home turf. It exposed the limitations of this team, certainly their limitations if sent out to play in such an unimaginative way. Marcus Rashford, alone, and even them only sporadically, showed the determination to run at the Sevilla defence, to challenge them in wide positions, to get in behind.
The rest was mediocre in the extreme. Wayward, long balls. Ponderous, slow play. Attack, attack, attack, shouted the fans. Sevilla did, finally locating the target after a series of wild attempts to send United stumbling out of the competition, disoriented, humbled. At least they can concentrate on coming a distant second to Manchester City now.
It is fitting that an attacker changed the game after such torpor. Ben yedder’s first goal came after two minutes of involvement, in which time his movement was already having an impact. It was a superbly taken goal. Pablo Sarabia picked him out through the middle and Ben yedder held off the defensive attention to bury the ball at David de Gea’s left post.
The next, the killer, was a little less perfect but no less effective, a header at the back post that De Gea scrambled to clear but was judged correctly to have crossed the line. Lukaku pulled one back from a Mata cross but the tie was gone.
Ben yedder should have had a hat-trick, his easiest chance being his third, one on one with De Gea, flapping at it, unnerved by the thinking time, blasting his finishnish straight at his legs..
It says somethingg of the upheaval andd trials of United since Ferguson stood down that less than half of last night’s starting line- up hadd ever played a Champions m- League knockout krafs game at Old Trafford — but that is still no excuse. There is enough European experiencence in playrd players like Sanchez, Matic and — later — Paul Pogba to have seen United through against a team currently sitting fifth in La Liga, 11 points shy of the Champions League qualification places.
yet, almost from the outset, there was trouble. Lukaku had a shot after a minute but from there Sevilla took charge. Had they been able to hit a bovine backside with the proverbial stringed instrument, United could have been in did real not trouble. make It fofor comfortable vieviewing, even for the pragmatic MouMourinho. He stoodst for long periods oon the edge of the technicatechnical area, hands deep in pockets, expression sober. He had picked a midfield to smother as well as deliver, but neither aspect was going particularly well. Fellaini, preferred to Pogba, played much as he did under Louis van Gaal, alternating between defensive midfield duties and support striker, flicking the ball on to that other giant, Lukaku. It wasn’t greatly effective. The one time United did threaten to score was in a sweet passing move between Fellaini and Sanchez that breached an otherwise competent defence.
That came in the 38th minute, Fellaini feeding Sanchez and getting the ball on the return before forcing an excellent save from Sergio Rico. Lingard was frustrated by another save just after half-time but, those moments aside, it was meagre stuff.
Sevilla were better, but wild — Luis Muriel twice and Franco Vazquez missing with shots, Joaquin Correa failing with a header from a left-sided corner.
yet, in trying to do a job on Sevilla, United ended up having had a job done on them instead. If the blueprint survives from this match, it should be tucked away, never to be unfolded or utilised again.
This is no way for Manchester United to play in Europe; it is a way for them, and any other team carrying 0-0 into a home leg, to lose.