Sevilla 2-1 Man Utd

You can call it poor defending or defensive lapses in concentration but there are systemic issues here that need addressing.   Attacking flair is great and United have this in abundance but the other side of the game is to be resolute in defence.

It’s an old cliché that space doesn’t score goals, players do.   This is why defenders need to mark players and not space.   It involves understanding the precise moment of when to switch to a man-to-man role within a zonal format.    This, clearly, does not come naturally to the players at the heart of United’s defence.

There is a reason for this.   It is to do with players never having played full team man-to-man defence competitively.   Only through playing and experiencing this form of defence does one really begin to understand the subtle art of defending one against one – a fundamental characteristic of zonal defending.

When your goal is coming under threat this is not a time to be playing a flat backline or trying to play offside.   This is a time to make sure opponents are being marked.   Unfortunately, the two objectives are not compatible.

Two goals, both where the player scoring the goal is completely unmarked, marked United’s exit from Europe.   The first one, the young full-back Brandon Williams did not see the need for him to be adopting a goal-side position for the equalising goal.   The second, the other full-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka was actually stood alongside De Jong on the top of the box as the play developed down the right-hand side.   As De Jong attacked the box the full-back did not go with him.   He probably didn’t even think he needed to.   This is the zonal mentality.

Wan-Bassaka was more interested in holding a defensive line.   When you are square with the position of the ball there is absolutely no point in trying to hold a defensive line.   De Jong was able to amble through the centre of the defence and arrive in the middle of the goal area to find himself completely unmarked for a simple tap-in.

With any defensive system, there comes a point when players have to match-up one against one with opposition players.   United have paid the price for not managing to do that.