You almost sensed Manchester United were going to lose at the hands of Sevilla before the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie had even started.
Part of that, of course, was down to United's hoodoo against Sevilla. They hadn't beaten the Spanish side in four competitive meetings, including the absolute collapse at Old Trafford one week prior. United failed to take advantage of their dominance and clear superiority, and conceding twice late on to squander their lead set them off on the back foot into the second leg.
Sevilla had momentum to capitalise on, and the atmosphere their fans created added to the pressure that United had put on themselves with the failure to kill the tie off in the first leg.
A sea of white in the stands brandished flags and banners, and released streams of toilet roll from the upper tiers. It made more some image. And all the while, the Europa League anthem was drowned out by the noise. The stadium was bouncing, literally.
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United were seemingly intimidated, and this exercised demons that have repeatedly haunted them this season and seen them capitulate in games. The jeers whenever they had possession unsettled them in the opening stages, and from there they never really recovered.
Sevilla were buoyed by the hostility in the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium. They showed aggression in everything they did, with each and every action roared by the crowd, whether that be pressing, tackling or frankly any duel. Marcel Sabitzer felt the wrath of Marcao in the early exchanges as he was forcefully shoved off the pitch.
United not only suffered from the pressure it was apparent they felt, but also from the positive effects the raucous atmosphere was having on their opposition. It felt as though they came out second-best in every duel contested amid looking pretty startled.
Ultimately, United crumbled and looked ill-prepared for the inevitable pressure cooker that they would experience in their second successive Europa League visit to Seville. They fell to a 3-0 defeat in a quite messy fashion, with no sort of control remotely ever established, and Sevilla encountering nigh on no problems en-route to victory.
It helped Sevilla that errors of differing degrees from United contributed to each of their goals. And for United, this sort of submission, during which they roll over and allow their opponents to dismantle them, brought familiar feelings from throughout this season.
When they have lost this season, which has been on nine occasions, it tends to be in a feeble manner. They have suffered six defeats, incidentally all away from home, which have been, to some degree, humiliating. Losses to Brighton, Real Sociedad and Arsenal were more closely contested, albeit only the latter was on the road.
Losing 4-0 to Brentford in the second game of the season set the tone for some of the starkly one-sided defeats, with a 6-3 loss away to Manchester City the next example. A 3-1 loss to Aston Villa was then without any real impression made from United's side, and the 7-0 annihilation against Liverpool and 2-0 loss away to Newcastle United saw Erik ten Hag's side brutally outplayed. The Sevilla defeat is the latest to enter this bracket.
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The first goal, which marked United's first catastrophe on Thursday evening, set the precedent for what was to follow. David de Gea and Harry Maguire were conjointly culpable, with the goalkeeper playing the ball into his centre-back despite pressure from all directions. Maguire ceded possession and Youssef En-Nesyri finished.
It was a staggering mess-up from United. De Gea should no doubt have acknowledged the trio of players pressurising Maguire, even though his centre-back displayed a lack of awareness by asking for the ball. It showed a lack of initiative and poor decision-making from the Spaniard's side, and furthered concerns about his ability to play out from the back.
United continued to make errors, whether tangibly through looseness in possession or from a tactical standpoint. But it was De Gea who noticeably never seemed to recover, even immediately after conceding the first goal after tentatively coming out of his net and causing another mix-up with Maguire.
Sevilla's legitimate second goal - after they had one chalked off for offside late in the first half after United left a lamentable amount of space - involved a less obvious mishap from the United goalkeeper, but his lack of proactivity made Loic Bade's life easier as he doubled his side's advantage on the night straight after half-time. The ultimate connection off the French defender's shoulder could also have been dealt with better by a stranded De Gea.
Sevilla's third goal, which consolidated their victory inside the final 10 minutes, came from the most obvious of De Gea's mistakes. He seemed in two minds as to whether to play a pass or control the ball having come out of his net and found himself in no man's land, with the end product half scuffed pass and half miscontrol. En-Nesyri was gifted an open net.
De Gea's display exemplified a big drawback from this season: possession of the wrong profiles to play the front-footed, high-possession football Ten Hag desires. De Gea lacks the proactive side of his game to effectively play a high line, while his lack of technical proficiency means playing out from the back can be difficult.
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Against Sevilla, United were certainly left at a disadvantage by absentees. Bruno Fernandes picked up an unjust yellow card for a close-range accidental handball in the first leg, seeing him suspended for the return leg and leaving United spineless. They were weakened profoundly without him, with no platform from which to attack and invigorate chance creation.
A lack of quality depth has often reared its head and been attributed to losses. In an ideal world, they would have two players per position able to start and fit perfectly into Ten Hag's desired system; this, however, will certainly take more than one window. And, at the moment, it is clearly an issue. This isn't to speak disparagingly against those who do offer depth, though.
Maguire, for instance, has his merits: he is particularly good in duels, and is technically good in the right situations. However, he is generally poor when under pressure and lacks mobility - something that puts him in a massive deficit compared to Lisandro Martinez, who is more adept in a high line and whose press resistance could have seen him navigate the situation that led to Sevilla's first goal.
A combination of factors saw United spiral against Sevilla and frustration took force, leading to Antony picking up a yellow card for kicking Marcos Acuna, among other things. They spiralled in a manner disconcertingly similar to the loss against Liverpool, during which they imploded due to frustration, albeit it was borne out as they committed to turning the game around to such an extent that they left themselves exposed.
Losing their heads in different ways when behind is a problem. It harks towards mentality issues within the squad, despite improvements in resilience between games and improved commitment across most of the season. However, when under pressure, there is clearly still much to iron out.
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It is evident that United remain too hot and cold. Their attacking impetus was being lauded prior to the loss against Sevilla, yet they regressed significantly with a semi-final on the line - an anomaly of sorts given their prowess in knockout competitions this season.
The Europa League was a big display of United's inconsistency, which has riddled them this season. They beat La Liga leaders Barcelona in mightily impressive fashion in the play-off round, yet they crumbled so badly against the side 13th in the same division two rounds later.
There is lots to be positive about from Ten Hag's first season - strides have been made. And it is the first season of the rebuild still, so it would have been foolish to believe it would be plain-sailing. But there are still some fairly major difficulties to eradicate.
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