Careless with their passing and lacking a cutting edge up front, United – also reluctantly in the Europa League group stages for the first time – were unconvincing for long periods.
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The England captain is one of three first team players manager Jose Mourinho has made a decision to rest from his squad for the game.
Mourinho warned that United are going to have a target on their backs in the Europa League this season.
The Dutch side have won all five of their Eredivisie fixtures so far but face a massive clash with second place PSV Eindhoven on Sunday.
Since winning the Europa League’s forerunner, the UEFA Cup, with Porto in 2003, Mourinho had not overseen a match in the competition, concentrating – and winning – the Champions League instead, with the Portuguese side in 2004 and Italy’s Inter Milan in 2010. I know that the situation is not click your fingers and everybody is flawless.
Jose Mourinho’s side looked rather reluctant throughout the game and after 79 minutes, Feyenoord attacked quickly down the right – Nicolai Jørgensen, who was offside, crossed to the edge of the box where Tonny Vilhena comes slide a shot low past David de Gea, who could probably have done better.
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.
“He is working really hard, my options in the Premier League in the last four matches were always Luke, Luke, Luke, so I think it’s time for Marcos to play – a simple decision”.
In other early matches, Anderlecht beat Qabala 3-1, Mainz were held 1-1 by Saint-Etienne 1-0 and Zenit battled out a late 4-3 win at Maccabi Tel Aviv. That is the normal nature of football players. They averaged three goals a game in their first five League matches and conceded only twice.
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.
World-record signing Pogba flashed hopelessly wide soon after play resumed, with former Aston Villa midfielder Karim El Ahmadi doing better when coming close with his own long-range effort. Jose Mourinho has included a few first-teamers and bonafide stars in his starting eleven tonight in Holland. “It’s something I don’t like”.
Panathinaikos ended the ill-tempered match with only nine men; Ivan Ivanov and Mubarak Wakaso were sent off in the second half.
Kuyt is now back where it all began at Feyenoord, under the guise of ex Arsenal defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
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“Of course I’m unhappy”, Mourinho said after the game. The manager admitted that the Europa League is not that much of an interest and participating in it can be a “handicap” to their League quest. We want to show the fans we are here to win every game.
