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Half-time reading
They made me do it.
Half time: Man Utd 1-1 Betis
Frantic, fascinating stuff at Old Trafford. All was well with the world when Marcus Rashford smashed United in front in the sixth minute, but they missed chances and were punished when Betis equalised through a fine goal from Ayoze Perez.
Old Trafford became a very nervous place thereafter, and Perez almost created a second when his cross deflected onto the post.
45 min One minute of added time.
44 min: Betis hit the post! Oh me, oh my. Another dreadful pass from De Gea goes straight to Juanmi, who feeds it quickly into Perez on the left side of the area. His low ball across the face of goal hits the sliding Fernandes, loops over the stranded de Gea and bounces off the far post!
United scramble the ball away, and David de Gea looks sheepishly into the distance. All he ever wanted was to be a goalkeeper.
43 min Rashford draws Bravo and tries to give the goal to Antony, but a) he was offside in the build-up and b) Abner got in front of Antony. Even so, it was a frightening bit of acceleration from Rashford.
42 min “I’ve been tracking the usage of Talisman for a while now,” says Gary Naylor. “It used to mean something of no intrinsic value the mere presence of which improved outcomes. Now Talisman’s meaning is morphing into the actual thing that brings those outcomes. What started as the descriptor for Weghorst is becoming that for Rashford. As with Stonewall (which was once Stone Cold) I probably blame Ian Wright for the change up (arrrggghhhh!).”
The ransomware attack in December was provocative enough, but these malcontents have gone too far by hacking Naylor.
41 min More Betis pressure, and United suddenly look in need of a half-time brollocking/subtle tactical reshuffle from Erik ten Hag.
40 min “Even though I have been watching this game,” says Samuel Campbell, “I didn’t realise Ayoze Perez had left Leicester until he scored that goal.”
I’m not sure who that shames the most: you, him or me.
39 min Here’s that superb equaliser from Ayoze Perez.
38 min The free-kick leads to a corner which leads to a ogalkick.
36 min Casemiro, who will miss the second leg if he’s booked, is penalised for fouling Ayoze Perez 35 yards from goal.
34 min Just before his lofted pass released Perez, Juanmi controlled a pass with his chest, and the ball then brushed his left arm. I’ve no idea what the rule is anymore – because it was chest first, presumably that’s okay. One way or another, VAR weren’t interested.
What a fine equaliser from Ayoze Perez, on loan from Leicester. Juanmi – who may have handled the ball in the build up – scooped a lovely pass over a packed United defence to find the unmarked Ayoze Perez on the right side of the area. He chested the ball down and cut across a beautiful daisycutter that beat the diving de Gea and faded just inside the far post. That’s such a classy finish, and United have paid the price for missing chances to go 2-0 up.
GOAL! Man Utd 1-1 Betis (Ayoze 32)
United miss, Betis hit!
31 min “Guess what I’m listening to,” says Joe Pearson. “You know when you throw out a new musical reference that I’m going to dive right in, right? And I know it annoys you when people turn off the commentary and listen to music. See what you’ve done!?”
See whatcha got. Start with Lazarus, which is probably their masterpiece. They are/were (I can’t keep up with which bands have reformed) so imaginative, with – for want of a less pretentious phrase – a lovely kind of restless creativity.
30 min The resulting corner bounces around the area before Casemiro hooks a shot on the turn over the bar. It was no sort of chance.
29 min Antony runs through the inside-left channel and plays the ball to his left towards Rashford. It’s slightly behind Rashford, who has to force a low curling shot that is pushed away to his left by the diving Bravo. The rebound evades Weghorst, and then Fernandes’s shot deflected behind for a corner.
28 min Based on that cross, Antony should spend more time on the left.
27 min: Weghorst misses a sitter! Oh, big man. Antony, on the left, curls a fantastic ball around the Betis defence. It bounces up towards Weghorst, six yards out, but he knocks it over the bar on the stretch.
Replays show he was offside, so it wouldn’t have counted. But he knows.
26 min “Wout Weghorst is experiencing some sort of scoring hoodoo?” sniffs Ian Copestake. “Maybe he should find a lucky talisman to touch.”
He is a lucky talisman mate.
25 min De Gea sprays a pass straight out of play for a Betis throw-in. After an excellent start, United have lost their way a bit.
24 min Actually, replays show the shot hit Weghorst’s upper arm, but it was by his side so there’s no reason for VAR to start meddling.
24 min The corner is half cleared, and then a flicked shot from Rodriguez hits Weghorst right in the kisser. A couple of Betis players appeal for handball but I’m pretty sure it hit him flush in the facee.
22 min Joaquin gives the overlapping Luiz Henrique the chance to have a run at Shaw, but he is a little indecisive and Martinez eventually gets back to concede a corner.
21 min “Weghorst, Nunez,” says Jeff Sax. “If not the one, than the other. Great duo.”
18 min Another chance for United. Rodriguez’s short backpass is seized upon by Rashford, whose first-time shot is crucially blocked, right on the edge of the area, by the outrushing Bravo.
In hindsight Rashford could have lifted the ball over Bravo, who had started sliding towards him, but it all happened pretty quickly.
17 min Oh big man, what are you doing to us. Wout Weghorst has had another excellent chance to score at Old Trafford. Shaw ran onto a return pass from Rashford and slid a low cross to the near post, where Weghorst got in front of Luiz Felipe but shot just wide from six yards.
Actually, I’ve done him a disservice – replays show the shot was on target and Felipe made a great challenge.
15 min “Afternoon, Rob!” says Joe Pearson. “Pop culture references left and right! But all I want to know is what’s in the box?”
I didn’t know you were a Boo Radleys man.
14 min Antony goes on the outside of Abner, but he doesn’t have the pace to burn him off and eventually Cruyff-turns his way back into traffic.
12 min “Before Sunday I would have predicted a cakewalk for United in this match,” says Peter Oh. “Now, I’m not so sure. All Betis, er bets, are off.
11 min Betis have had a few promising moves, and it’s an enjoyably open game. Their shape looks closer to a 4-4-2 than 4-2-3-1, with Betis and Joaquin up front.
10 min Here’s the opening goal from Marcus Rashford. Fair to say he hit it with feeling.
9 min United look sharp here. Casemiro, in the inside-right channel 25 yards from goal, flips a nice ball with the outside of the foot towards Weghorst. His diving header from 14 yards is straight at Bravo.
7 min “Joaquin!” says Ruth Purdue. “One of the last great players of that era. Great to see him still playing and winning things.”
He appeared at the 2002 World Cup! David Seaman played in that, too, and he qualifies for a free bus pass in September.
There was a scare at the other end, when a wretched backpass from Dalot led to a half chance that Joaquin miskicked. United broke down the right, with Fernandes on the ball. His low cross/pass towards Weghorst was cut out by the stretching Luis Felipe, but Rashford collected the loose ball just inside the area, walked past Felipe – who was still on the ground – and blistered the ball into the roof of the net. That’s a terrific finish.
GOAL! Man Utd 1-0 Betis (Rashford 6)
Marcus Rashford crashes Manchester United in front.
5 min Wout Weghorst will never score at Old Trafford. He’s had a goal ruled out – a neat finish with his chest - for an offside against Fred in the build up. No controversy here: Fred was miles off.
2 min Fred is a bit lucky to avoid a yellow card for a cynical foul on Rodriguez.
2 min Dalot wins a corner for United inside 40 seconds. Shaw swings it deep and Pezzella heads away. The atmosphere at Old Trafford is really good now.
1 min Peep peep! United get the game under way, kicking from left to right as we watch. Their shape is actually 4-1-2-3, with Fred further forward, Rashford on the left and Wout Weghorst up front.
Europa League results so far
Nearly time for kick off at Old Trafford. In the meantime, here’s how the early games finished:
Roma 2-0 Real Sociedad
Sporting 2-2 Arsenal
Leverkusen 2-0 Ferencvaros
Union Berlin 3-3 Union SG
It’s snowing in Manchester - and the Betis fans are loving it. They are making quite a racket ahead of the first ever meeting between these sides. The home fans, not so much, yet.
“It is a shame,” says Ian Copestake, “that Ten Hag did not get wind of your Departed reference and break into an imitation of Jack Nicholson imitating a sniffing rat.”
I think Ralf Rangnick spent most of last spring doing that.
More pre-match reading
In a Guardian exclusive, we have footage of the Manchester United dressing-room before and after Sunday’s game.
NB: Clip contains adult language
NB: Clip isn’t actually from the Manchester United dressing room
The players on a yellow card
Man Utd Casemiro
Betis Claudio Bravo, German Pezzella, Luiz Felipe, Aitor Ruibal
Football Manager 2024 latest
Erik ten Hag speaks
We want to win, we need a good performance and we think this is the best team [to do that]. Of course they get an opportunity for rehabilitation, but this is the most important game now and we picked a team for that.
We lowered our standards in the last couple of games, and on Sunday we got hammered for it. We have to get back to our standards, to our values, to our demands. We need high standards, because we want to win.
We have a great bond with the fans. On Sunday we let them down and we let ourselves down. Of course, we want revenge [sic].
When it goes, it goes quickly, and there’s nothing you can do about it
When he wrote this sentence in his utterly brilliant 1994-95 season diary, Alex Ferguson was talking specifically about how a sudden rush of fatigue can derail a title challenge. But his point is probably universal.
In the rush to find the hottest take on Sunday’s fiasco, plenty said it was evidence that United’s schedule – tonight is their 19th game of 2023 – has caught up with a smallish squad, and that they are going to do a Devon Loch and miss out on the Champions League. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe don’t finish this bit like Mark Wahlberg in The Departed.
It’s a fair question, though. And it means that, for United, tonight’s game isn’t just a cup tie; it’s also a health check.
Betis’s leading scorer, the likeable late bloomer Borja Iglesias, is only on the bench tonight. He’ll get on at some stage, I’m sure, and you should definitely read this cracking interview with Sid Lowe.
Team news: Man Utd unchanged
Erik ten Hag obeys football’s golden rule: never change a team that’s just lost 7-0, because it’s their mess so they can clean it up.
There are plenty of familiar names in the Betis side, including Claudio Bravo, William Carvalho, Ayoze Perez, the World Cup winners Guido Rodriguez and German Pezzella – and the captain Joaquin, aged 41. When he made his Betis debut in 2000, Ronnie Wallwork was playing centre-half for United.
Manchester United (possible 4-2-3-1) De Gea; Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro, Fred; Antony, Fernandes (capt), Rashford; Weghorst.
Substitutes: Butland, Heaton, Lindelof, Maguire, Malacia, Wan-Bissaka, Mainoo, McTominay, Pellistri, Elanga, Garnacho, Sancho.
Real Betis (possible 4-2-3-1) Bravo; Sabaly, Pezzella, Luiz Felipe, Abner; Rodriguez, William; Luiz Henrique, Joaquin, Juanmi; Ayoze.
Substitutes: Rui Silva, Martin, Edgar Gonzalez, Iglesias, Canales, William Jose, Guardado, Aitor Ruibal, Rodri, Miranda, Dani Perez.
Referee Daniel Siebert (Germany)
Preamble
Samurai. Wonders of the World. Len Goodman. John Doe setting the example. George Costanza’s preferred baby name. The number seven has umpteen connotations; sadly for all connected with Manchester United, there’s a new addition to that the list.
The shadow cast by Manchester United’s bizarro defeat at Anfield will never completely disappear – it can’t, not when you lose like that to them – but it will fade into the background if they continue their revival under Erik ten Hag. That process begins against Real Betis tonight.
It’s quite an achievement to lose 7-0, 6-3 and 4-0 in your first season and still be well ahead of schedule, but that’s what Ten Hag has done. And United have a proud(ish) history of recovering from mid-season shellackings – Everton 1956, Newcastle & Southampton 1996, Chelsea 1999, Liverpool 2009 – to have the last LOL. Their assumed target for the season was a trophy and a place in the top four, and they’re still well on course for that.
United could yet homage Liverpool’s tinpot treble of 2000-01 by winning three cups and qualifying for the Champions League. The stirring win over Barcelona has made them favourites to win the Europa League*, and their next task is to overcome an awkward if limited Betis, who are coached by the former Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini.
Betis are fifth in La Liga, and reminded everyone of their defensive strengths when they drew 0-0 at home to Real Madrid at the weekend. They also topped their Europa League group, winning away to Roma in the process.
United have gone out of Europe to Spanish opposition in each of the last five seasons and nine of the last 13, so they won’t take Betis lightly. Especially not after Sunday.
Kick off 8pm.
* A bit odd, given Arsenal’s superiority, but presumably based on the assumption that Mikel Arteta will prioritise the Premier League
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