Manchester United vs LASK Player Ratings
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| Jesse Lingard was lively and bagged another goal, but how did the rest of the team fare? Image from The Telegraph |
Summary
Well, for those Manchester United fans hoping for a heart stopping return to European action for their team (and there weren’t many, considering it was already 5-0 before we started), they probably got it – except if perhaps they died of boredom.
That’s right, Jake Hammond on BT Sports summed up the first half perfectly when he described the highlights as “two catches and a missed header”, as United’s second string failed to impress.
Honestly, for most of the first half, Manchester United were actually outplayed by Austria’s fourth-best team this season. LASK’s players had as much to prove to their new manager as our second XI had to prove to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his team, yet, sadly, none of them were hammering on the door to be picked.
If it wasn’t for Anthony Martial’s late introduction to the game, we may well have lost our first ever match against Austrian opposition, the way the game was going. Fortunately, though, we got the win in the end and go through to the next round, winning 7-1 on aggregate – Phew! And, even more fortunately, after having rested most of our big stars for the game in Cologne on Monday against Copenhagen, we probably won’t have to sit through a repeat-viewing of this game – Double phew!
So, then, that’s enough of that, let’s get down to business and the reason we’re all here – the player ratings:
Sergio Romero – 5.5
Sergio Romero didn’t have much to do in this game in all honesty. There was nothing he could’ve done about LASK’s goal and made a good save at the end to keep the win.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah – 4.5
Looked decent when called into defence, although he went forward so much that Eric Bailly had to move over to do much of that work. Went forward a lot but failed to offer anything in the final third.
Maguire – 5
Showed his seniority, never really put a foot wrong but missed a couple of attacking headers that should’ve been on target.
Eric Bailly – 5
Same as Maguire really, didn’t have a lot to do but covered the right-hand side well when Fosu-Mensah got called forward.
Brandon Williams – 5
He’s probably going to start for Manchester United on Monday night against Copenhagen. He looked energetic here but again never really offered much in the final third when he got there.
Fred – 4.5
Fred never put a foot wrong here, in fact he never put a foot anywhere in my opinion, was he even on the pitch? I only realised when he got subbed off. That’s a joke of course, he took possession a couple of times but wasn’t the machine he has been all season.
Scott McTominay – 5.5
Was an absolute beast in the defensive-midfield, really hounded the LASK players whenever they came through. Didn’t drive the team forward as much as he has in the past though and didn’t exactly look match fit.
Juan Mata – 7.5
Juan Mata was man of the match for me. He started on the right-wing in the first half but looked about a yard or 5 off the pace down there. He looked absolutely class in the second half though, showing off his range of passing and picked up the assists for both goals.
Juan Mata vs LASK:
— Kevan (@kevanred) August 5, 2020
82% pass accuracy
76 touches
11/12 accurate long balls
5 dribbles completed
4 key passes
2 big chances created
2 assists
Bossed the game. 😎 pic.twitter.com/NrtaGsG0DJ
Jessie Lingard – 6.5
Looked probably one of the best players on the pitch, up until he was subbed for some reason. Got the first goal but then rightly looked confused when he saw his number called.
Daniel James – 3.5
Daniel James could have really shown his worth tonight against poor opposition, but he was genuinely disappointing. He was an absolute nobody in the first half, losing the ball all three or so times he got it. In the second half, he wasn’t much improved, his final delivery once he gets into a good position absolutely needs to be developed, because his passes offered nothing.
Odion Ighalo – 4.5
A rough night for our Nigerian striker, as he just didn’t get the service. Mata and James on the wings in the first half couldn’t provide for him. He got our first shot on target in the second half after showing some good footwork, but other than that he was barely passed the ball.
Substitutes
Paul Pogba – 4.5
Got brought on to be given a run-around, but never really changed the ethos of the team, as the performance continued to be sluggish.
Anthony Martial – 7
Was only on for a short time but played some good passes with Juan Mata to get the winning goal. Looked our most dangerous player by far and showed why our first team is a class above our second.
Andreas Pereira – 5
Was only on the pitch for about 10 minutes, but looked energetic, even if his final ball was also poor.
Tahith Chong – 5.5
A lively performance from Chong, it’s clear he has a bit of pace on him. Ran around like a headless chicken trying to get on the ball, just a shame the rest of the team didn’t share his enthusiasm.
Teden Mengi – N/A
Can’t really give a rating, glad to see he got on the pitch, even if just for 10 minutes. Hopefully he can get some more game time next season, all fans are really excited to see what he can do.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - 6.5
Ole gets a positive rating for me here, he played our second string to give them a chance to prove themselves and they failed him. Sure, there are murmurs that he could've given more kids a try, Ethan Laird for example, but he gave Teden Mengi his first run-out for the 8th academy debut this season, so he deserves credit for that too. Then, at the end, he brought Martial on because he knew that we should be winning this game, even if just for pride's sake, and we did exactly that.
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