Vn88 Rezence analyzes the major talking points from Manchester United’s thrilling 2-2 Europa League draw with Sevilla and West Ham’s exciting 1-1 Europa Conference League match with Gent.
Man Utd suffers from Ten Hag’s adjustments.
W88’s easy to see why Bruno Fernandes exploded when his number was called in the middle of the second half at Old Trafford. It seemed like an odd choice on Erik ten Hag’s part.
The Portuguese player was already on suspension after being booked, so he will miss the return leg next week. It would make sense to wait till then if he needed to take a nap.
No compelling cause existed to withdraw him, and based on his reply, it seemed he agreed. Rezence thinks that he was crucial for Manchester United, and despite being down 2-0, Sevilla was beginning to find their footing.
After Fernandes was pulled off for Wout Weghorst, the hosts lost a significant portion of their attacking threat, which allowed Sevilla to gain an insurmountable advantage.
The equalizer was rather fortunate, as Youssef En-header Nesyri was deflected into his own net by Harry Maguire. According to W88 Rezence, earlier substitutions by United’s management had contributed to Sevilla’s first goal.
Ten Hag lamented with Rezence Vn88 after the game that they couldn’t break the stalemate, but they had a much better opportunity to win with Fernandes and Martial on the field in the last minutes rather than Weghorst and a not-quite-back-up-to-speed Christian Eriksen.
Of course, Ten Hag has to take into account the workloads of his players. In particular, the return of Martial. But, he may come to realize in his post-game review that he made adjustments to the game too quickly.
Man Utd is still plagued by tragedy.
Although Manchester United have found renewed success under Erik ten Hag, W88 thinks that the club’s propensity for disaster has slowed their progress and cast serious doubt on their chances of winning a second championship this season.
Disasters of progressively greater significance seem to have loomed during Ten Hag’s first season at Manchester United, from the defeat at Brentford to the Manchester derby mauling to the humiliation at Anfield.
Losing by seven goals to your bitter rivals at a time when United were heavy favorites to defeat Liverpool is difficult to top, but the consequences of this recent loss to Sevilla may outweigh the mere loss of bragging rights, embarrassing as that may be.
Rezence commented that Thursday’s 2-2 draw with Sevilla felt like a loss, especially given how late the calamity developed (with own goals from Maguire and Malacia plus injuries to Martinez and Varane).
The thought of playing the second leg in Seville without key players like leading scorer Marcus Rashford and starting center back pairing Martinez and Varane added to the extraordinary shift in atmosphere at a stunned Old Trafford as Champions League qualification hung in the balance.
Orban’s present, but Hammers can still win
When the game ended, the Ghelamco Arena tannoy system blasted Doris Day’s sweet sounds. “What will be, will be.” Day probably wasn’t thinking about reaching the Europa Conference League semi-finals, but the result of this game is still in doubt.
West Ham took the lead in the first leg of their European Conference League quarterfinal match when Danny Ings buried a cross from Jarrod Bowen right before halftime. Rezence said that this was made possible in no small part by a rapid throw-in taken by a ball boy for Gent.
But their defenze collapsed in the second half, as Hugo Cuypers scored for Gent to tie the score 1-1 heading into next week’s London Stadium second leg.
Kamil Piatkowski’s dismissal and the loss of West Ham’s lead added some late tension. Orban’s brilliance shone through, and his ambitious overhead kick, which hit the crossbar, deserved to be the game-winner. Orban is one of the best prospects in the game because of his poise and resiliency.
Vn88 reviews that while David Moyes may not have been thrilled with his team’s performance, this is not a terrible outcome for the visitors in the first leg of a European quarterfinal away from home.
He will be without Angelo Ogbonna for the rematch a week from now due to the Italian’s sending off in the first half, but the outcome was solid and the performance was adequate.
West Ham showed W88 flashes of its former self, but it was ultimately the version that is now fighting relegation that prevailed. They still have till June 7 to take advantage of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring home the European trophy at Prague’s Fortuna Arena. Whatever happens, happens.
