Feyenoord stunned Manchester United 1-0 in the Europa League on Thursday, handing the English giants a second loss in less than a week.
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Southampton made the ideal start to Group K and claimed their first win under new coach Claude Puel as they beat Sparta Prague 3-0 at St Mary’s Stadium.
Many of their players seem to have adopted Pep’s tactics pretty easily which is obviously a bonus and, in keeping with the theme of seven, we think these seven have been the most impressive of all so far…
We know that in the Europa League everyone wants to play Man United, everyone wants to fight until their limits, which they did. “I said, yes, it’s a very good start, but I was never on the moon”. I know the situation is not click your fingers and everybody is ideal. Exposed down the right flank by a Nicolai Jorgensen’s run that beat the offside trap, United’s defenders were noticeable by their absence when the unmarked Vilhena swept home from just inside the penalty area.
Another similarity in the Group A opener was Mourinho’s belief that the defeat was undeserved, albeit their performance was not brilliant for the duration.
“It’s more hard, yes [to win the Premier League when you are playing in the Europa League]”. You lose matches and people are sad and feel it. The Netherlands global has only played a single minute of Premier League football since Mourinho took over, and his second half cameo at De Kuip is unlikely to have changed his manager’s thinking.
Unfortunately for Mourinho, his players fluffed their lines for the second time in six days, Feyenoord sending United packing a year to the day since they also lost on Dutch soil, to PSV Eindhoven. It starts minute zero at 0-0 so I think it has nothing to do with the previous two matches.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho on the touchline.
“Okay I changed eight players, but I played with a good team”.
The Untied boss admits the introductions were not expected to play with the “same intensity, sharpness, quick thinking” as Feyenoord’s team given their comparative lack of game-time, although that is not an excuse Paul Pogba can use.
Signed for a world-record fee, the France midfielder was anonymous for large parts of the encounter in Holland.
Mourinho said: “I think the game on Sunday will be an independent game”. “It’s something I don’t like”.
Jose Mourinho’s appointment and some marquee signings helped bring a feelgood factor back to Old Trafford after the prosaic reign of Louis van Gaal. “We lose the game in a moment we didn’t deserve to”, Mourinho said. So we know that we are not going to have any kind of support on that.
Meanwhile, 2010 European champions Inter Milan surprisingly crashed 2-0 in San Siro against Hapoel Beer Sheva, for whom Miguel Vitor and Maor Bar Buzaglo scored in the second half.
Chris Smalling says Manchester United’s players need to stand up and be counted to avoid an “unacceptable” third successive defeat.
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Astonishingly, Zenit came from 3-0 down to win with four goals in the last 14 minutes – with Luka Djordjevic hitting the victor in injury time.
