Sevilla prove Erik ten Hag right with aggressive and effective tactic

Sevilla proved Erik ten Hag’s pre-match assessment correct with their aggressive tactic that was on display during Manchester United’s Europa League demise on Thursday evening.

Three goals from Youssef En-Nesyri (2) and Loic Bade saw Manchester United‘s Europa League run end in a rather tragic fashion as Erik ten Hag‘s men fell to pieces in Seville.

After taking a 2-0 lead in the first half of the opening leg, the quarter-final tie seemed to be smooth sailing for Ten Hag’s men, until late own goals from Tyrell Malacia and Harry Maguire saw Sevilla claw back to a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford.

The second leg, which ended in a 3-0 loss that saw a flat United side completely steamrolled by the domestically-struggling La Liga side, was a night to forget for United fans.

The most striking part of Sevilla’s play on the evening was their brilliant attacking coordination off the ball and their effective use of their height that completely ruined United’s defensive structure and ambushed their weaknesses in a brutal fashion.

Speaking about Sevilla head of kick-off, Ten Hag told BT Sport: “It is more an English team than a Spanish team we are playing against. The second ball is huge, we need to win that and play football.”

Sevilla had eight corners against United across the 90 minutes on Thursday evening and won the first contact and/or second contact in almost all of them – proving Ten Hag’s comments about the “English”-ness of Sevilla’s play completely correct.

The Spanish side’s second goal came from this, with Bade rising above the entire United defensive line to nod (shoulder) the ball looping over David de Gea into the net; a goal which secured their place in the semi-finals.

“Bad decisions and we also lost the battles,” Ten Hag explained when asked on what went wrong for United.

“They (Sevilla) had more passion, more desire, more willingness. Then it’s difficult to win big football games.”

This, combined with their hounding and relentless press, completely destroyed the organisation and confidence of the United defensive line. It was a night to forget for the Reds, but these problems United faced in Spain may be ones that last beyond the 90 minutes of the fixture.

Manchester United next face Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday afternoon, kicking off at Wembley Stadium.