One “frustrating” Manchester United was put to shame by a Real Sociedad substitute during their Europa League clash on Thursday night.
Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie at the Reale Arena.
Ruben Amorim’s side dominated the opening 70 minutes and took a deserved lead through Joshua Zirkzee after a good move.
However, United were left frustrated when VAR awarded Sociedad a penalty for a handball by Bruno Fernandes, leading to the hosts’ equalizer.
Despite late pressure from Sociedad, United defended resolutely, keeping the tie evenly balanced ahead of the second leg at Old Trafford next week.
Dalot was frustrating vs Sociedad
Diogo Dalot was slammed for his performance on Thursday evening and labelled as “frustrating” by Paul Scholes after he missed an easy pass to Rasmus Højlund for a potential goal.
The wingback received the ball in space on the right flank and United’s no.9 darted towards the front post with tons of space for the pass. Dalot instead turned back inside and the chance was wasted.
What made it even worse is that the Reds were practicing that kind of situation in their pre-match warm up.
“Dalot should have squared it to Hojlund,” Scholes said at half-time on TNT Sports. “They have dangerous players but haven’t been a threat.
“The frustrating thing is we watched them practice that. For Dalot not to see it is criminal. He has made a good run, you are a right back, for any right back in world football to not see that is criminal.”
Sociedad substitute put Dalot to shame
The worst part about that missed chance is how United almost conceded in the later minutes with an incredibly similar chance.
After scoring the penalty in the 70th minute, the Spaniards were on top for the remainder of the game and in the 82nd minute Sociedad substitute Sheraldo Becker was played through on the right flank.
Again, he had a player running into the box and the Sociedad winger played an early ball across the face of goal which Orri Oskarsson should have scored. Becker’s decision-making and execution of the cross put Dalot to shame. But, in reality, it isn’t really much of a surprise.
The Sociedad player is a natural winger who wants to get into those positions and cross, while Dalot is a makeshift wingback who has had troubles in the final third ever since he signed for United in 2018.
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It highlights how much Amorim needs attack-minded players in those wingback roles. Patrick Dorgu has added something on the left but there is still a problem on the right side.
Dalot became a good fullback under Erik ten Hag, winning the club’s Player of the Year last term, but he is simply not a good enough wingback, especially with how Amorim wants to play.
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