Deja vu for United captain Fernandes seeing red again as United draw 3-3 with Porto
Following a disappointing 3-0 home loss to Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs, Manchester United travelled to Portugal to face Fc Porto in the newly formatted Europa League. This was the second of eight group games in this year’s European campaign for Erik Ten Hag’s team, whom had previously suffered a 1-1 draw against Fc Twente, a match that included a wonderful strike from Eriksen but a calamity of mistakes topped off by the Danish midfielder causing the equaliser. It wouldn’t be an understatement to suggest that this was make or break with Manchester United away at Aston Villa on Sunday, a team in brilliant form coming off the back of a 1-0 victory against Bayern Munich, possibly being the final nail in the coffin for Erik Ten Hags tenure at Manchester United.
The tactical style of Porto could be compared very closely to that of Spurs, both aggressive pressing teams with Porto being in the 99 th percentile of pressing across Europe’s top 7 leagues. This could prove to be a serious tactical issue if Manchester United set up with the tactical Naivety of the previous game, or individual errors continue to plague the starting XI.
United Starting XI: ONANA, MAZRAOUI, DE LIGT, MARTINEZ, DALOT, CASEMIRO, ERIKSEN, AMAD, FERNANDES, RASHFORD, HOJLUND
Porto Starting XI: COSTA, JOAO MARIO, ZE PEDRO, NEHUEN, MOURA, ALAN VALERA, EUSTAQUIO, NICO, PEPE, GALENO, SAMU
The game had a lively start with Samu Omorodion setting the tone for his performance for the whole night, running in the channels and winning Porto an early corner through tenacity and physicality against United’s backline. The chance was cleared allowing the chance for a counter through Rashford who was a constant and prominent threat throughout the first half. Porto defended with eleven men behind the ball having little space between the defence and midfield making it hard to play through. This also drew Manchester United’s back line further up the pitch, sitting ten yards inside the Porto half, allowing the chance for a counter.
The first united goal came from a switch of play to Eriksen who was free in the left channel, the Dane played the ball through to Rashford whom was in acres, hugging the touchline. The winger ran at Joao Mario beating Porto’s number 23 and Eustaquio cannoning the shot to the near post. Costa forced a leg out to block the shot however the ball rolled beneath his foot into the back of the net. It was a beautiful piece of skill by Rashford to skip between 2 defenders, a shot with such pace and power was always going to be difficult to save but objectively it was a poor mistake from Costa.
Porto continued to counter, forcing United back into their own half with De Ligt and Martinez displaying good box defending putting in blocks and clearing the ball, basics of being a central defender. Being sat in their own box wasn’t a good sign, having scored the opening goal united gave up so much ground by not fully controlling the game and killing it off.
In the 19 th minute, a clearance landed to Hojlund on the half way line who won the header facing a tough physical battle against Porto’s defence, passing the ball to Eriksen. Again, Eriksen had another hand in the second goal, threading through a killer pass to Rashford on the left-hand side of the box.
A third man run by Hojlund was played through by Rashford who smashed the ball again at Costa’s near post, the Portuguese goalkeeper was again at fault for a sloppy mistake not producing a strong enough hand to stop the shot.
Just 7 minutes later Porto had their first goal. A cross from in the right-hand channel, just outside the box was whipped in and met by Samu forcing a good save from Onana. The parried shot found its way to the path of Aquino, the forward had found space behind Martinez whose lack of scanning had allowed Porto their foothold into the game. This was the beginning of a lacklustre performance by Martinez, exposed by the tactical system of having to defend the space left by an inverting Dalot but also didn’t perform to the standard of Manchester United but also to his own previous performances.
Porto’s equaliser came from a cross from the same area of the pitch as the previous goal, sloppy marking from Dalot and Rashford allowed for a cross to be delivered to Samu Omorodion. The perfectly weighted cross just required Samu to direct it towards goal as he muscled De Ligt out of the way with the ball cannoning into the roof of the net.
United continued to make chances despite their leading being slashed with Hojlund again displaying his excellent physical qualities, holding off his marker and breaking down the left. His pass to Amad was just overhit, the right winger who had a quiet game just couldn’t reach the ball.
A good 1 v 1 save by Onana early in the second half was a sign of what was to come with Samu’s brace coming just a few minutes later. Down United’s left Martinez who was covering for the slowly tracking back Dalot lost his battle failing to stop the cross. Facing his own goal, De ligt tracked Omorodion but failing to get tight to the Spaniard who got in front of the defender firing the ball into the roof of the net past Onana. Another string of individual mistakes which could have been avoided caused Manchester United’s 2-0 margin to now be a 3-2 deficit.
This was the 31 st time since the beginning of the 2023-24 season that United had conceded more than 2 goals and was the 3rd European away game out of 4 which United had been 2-0 up and seen that margin be nullified.
Ah Bruno Fernandes. Where to begin? The creative monster hasn’t had a good start to the 2024-25 season, not having the impact across previous seasons since arriving in Manchester in 2020. The captain saw red again for a high foot challenge, the second red in two games. A cross swung in by Garnacho was met by Perez, heading the ball away but a high foot by Bruno clattered into the defender. It was another seemingly harsh second yellow card as Bruno didn’t make contact with Perez’s head, Bruno’s shin hitting the defender’s chest. It was a highly emotional decision by Fernandes who gave the referee the opportunity, notoriously European football has a low bar for red cards and Bruno’s challenge was a naïve decision one that could have really been avoided.
Porto should have scored a 4 th with Samu being gifted the ball by De Ligt who managed to fire an effort to the bottom right corner. The effort was parried out for a corner by Onana who again had put in a consistent and high standard performance, without him in goal Porto would have run wild.
Erik Ten Hag’s substitutions through the game were questionable, taking Rashford off at half time after being Manchester United’s most potent and impactful player in the first half. Again, as United were trailing 3-2, the 78 th minute double substitution, swapping De Ligt and Martinez for Maguire and Evans was another strange decision, there seemed to be no passion to kill the game off. Surprisingly, Harry Maguire was the saving grace that Erik needed. The defender rose well at the back post latching onto a cross from Eriksen heading the ball into the floor of the net and saving a horrible night for United. It was a classic Harry Maguire goal, displaying his brilliant physical and arial qualities.
The 3-3 draw to Porto was objectively a disappointment. Erik Ten Hag’s Manchester United caved in Europe, a negative trait of his tenure since being at the helm and a trait that needs to quickly be addressed if United want to succeed in their remaining 6 group stage games. The choice of tactical system exposed the defence in such an expansive and ‘basketball-like’ game, whether this facilitated poor individual performances or just highlighted them is a key question. Looking ahead, the game against Aston Villa is a frightening prospect based off performances by Manchester United and could be make or break for Erik Ten Hags tenure.
