Manchester United are done with the 201-20 season. The new one is to arrive in less than a month and now we can summarise it all. The Red Devils have exited the Europa League campaign in a yet another semifinal this season, after losing out at that stage in both FA Cup and EFL League Cup. Bruno Fernandes’ opener after nine minutes of play from the penalty spot was not enough to reach the final, as Sevilla recuperated and scored through Suso after 26 minutes and Luuk de Jong after 78 minutes to make it a 2-1 win for the Spanish side.
Here are the four things we learned from this match.
Man United Pay For Missed Chances
It was an obvious thing even during the match, when Man United failed to convert many of their chances with the score still in the open, that feeling of ‘we could be punished for these misses’. And the old adage was proved correct, as Sevilla did punish Man United for every chance they failed to convert. The Devils were not clinical enough – creating chance, but then failing at the last hurdle. In fact, Man United had not scored a single non-penalty goal in these two games against Sevilla and Kobenhavn, despite playing for 210 minutes.
Anthony Martial had his chances he should have burried and Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood could be put into the same category. That’s too bad, because the chances were there.
Solskjaer’s Game Management Is Still An Issue
Once again, similarly to that match against Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinal, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had his odd choices that did not work well for his team. The manager’s decision to start David De Gea ahead of Sergio Romero did not lead to anything negative for this team, but Solskjaer’s in-game management was poor once more. His substitutes came only when it was way too late, trying to throw sticks at the wall and see what happens. There was no real plan B to make changes on time and this was not the first time Solskjaer was unable to change things when they were not going well.
Sevilla Get Another Chance For Glory
Sevilla have won five Europa Leagues in the last 15 years and now they could add their sixth. That is an incredible achievement for the Andalusians, especially in this competition, considering not always they participate in it. Sevilla will be going against Inter Milan, but next season there very well might not be there to repeat their result, as they will be playing in the Champions League. On the semifinal night, Sevilla were clinical, patient and diligent and they will definitely need that in the final on Friday night.
Man United Have A Lot Of Work To Do
There is still so much work ahead for Manchester United if they are to challenge for trophies. For those biggest ones, the Premier League and the Champions League, it is safe to say Man United will not be challenging in 2020-21. This squad is thin both in terms of the starting XI and the squad depth overall. In recent years, Ed Woodward has never been able to ‘finish’ what is necessary in the transfer market, since every summer and winter Man United would always continue being ‘work in progress’. Man United fans would like that WIP tag to be dropped as soon as possible, but there are no signs this summer just yet that it will happen.
Not winning a European trophy might be a good thing for the long run, if everyone at the club realise what kind of changes will be necessary.
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