That’ll do for tonight. Thanks for participating in our groundbreaking AI experiment. BLOGGY.
Christian Eriksen’s reaction
We’re disappointed as a team. We wanted more but it was far from good enough. They looked like they wanted it more than us and that can’t be right. It feels like a loss.
The FC Twente players are dancing deliriously and posing for photos in front of the away end. It’s a lovely reminder of how much football can and does mean to teams who aren’t part of the Super League Massive.
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Another night of frustration for Man Utd. Christian Eriksen cancelled out his blistering first-half goal with the unusually dozy error that allowed Sam Lammers to equalise.
United played some good stuff at times but their performance felt like the football equivalent of a bowler who bowls a pretty length and beats the bat instead of finding the edge. They’re still miles away from where they want to be.
Full time: Man Utd 1-1 FC Twente
Fernandes hits a free-kick straight at Unnerstall, who boots the ball miles in celebration when he hears the final whistle. All the FC Twente team run to congratulate him and rightly so: he made two stunning reaction saves, both from teammates, to earn Twente a point.
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90+2 min: Great save by Understall! Fernandes drives the corner towards Maguire at the far post. He wins the header, of course he does, and Besselink accidentally shins the ball towards a very bad place. For the second time tonight, Understall makes an outstanding reaction save to stop an own goal.
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90+2 min Mazraoui, who has been quietly impressive once again, wins another corner for United…
90 min Four added minutes.
90 min Twente switched to 5-4-1 at a time when they were on top in the game. No dark arts, just pitch-black tactics.
Garnacho wins a corner for United, who are pushing for a bit of FergieTime euphoria. Mount takes, Twente clear eventually.
89 min Lots of United pressure now. Dalot’s shot from the edge of the area is blocked by the noggin of Hilgers.
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87 min One of the riddles of Ten Hag’s time at Man Utd – and there are plenty – is their home form. In his first season they were almost unbeatable at Old Trafford, but last year they were a shambles and their performances in the three big home games so far have been pedestrian at best.
86 min Mainoo turns smartly in the area and is blocked off by Hilgers. The United supporters appeal for a penalty but Mainoo gets straight to his feet.
85 min “During the break I realised that I had no idea what ‘Twente’ meant,” begins Kári Tulinius. “Somewhat boringly, it’s simply the name of the region. Since I could see a rabbit hole, I kept chasing and found that it derives from the name of the Germanic tribe ‘Tubantes’ or ‘Tuihanti’. They crop up a few times in the historical record, perhaps most notably taking sides against Constantine the Great, and you should never go up against someone nicknamed ‘the great’.
“FC Twente, for most of their history, were the team that didn’t win, until Yorkshireman Steve McClaren took them to their first national title. Which brought history full circle… because where was Constine the Great acclaimed as emperor? That’s right, in York. I realize this is a very niche email, but the second half has been boring enough to have me thinki… hold on, Twente equalised!”
Yes, Kari did send that 15 minutes ago but every time I, Mr Bloggy, tried to publish it something else happened.
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84 min Garnacho curls a speculative effort over the bar from the left edge of the area.
84 min: Double substitution for Twente Gustaf Lagerbielke and Gijs Besselink, nickname Vennegoor, replace for the goalscorer Sam Lammers and Youri Regeer.
83 min Van Wolfswinkel is booked for a foul on Hojlund.
81 min: Just wide from Fernandes! Yeah, his confidence levels aren’t too bad. Mazraoui won the ball on the edge of the Twente area, Ugarte laid it off and Fernandes smashed a first-time curler across goal. It was almost a mirror image of Riccardo Calafiori’s goal at the Etihad on Sunday; almost, because this one flashed just wide. It was a brilliant effort.
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80 min Another chance for Twente, who suddenly have a three-on-two attack. Lammers underhits his pass towards Ltaief and Mazraoui intercepts on the edge of the area.
80 min “Bloggy bloggy, Bloggy. Bloggy bloggy bloggy?” says Peter Pearson. “Bloggy bloggy!!”
I’m going to regret this aren’t I.
79 min: Triple substitution for Man Utd Mason Mount, Rasmus Hojlund and Kobbie Mainoo replace Marcus Rashford, Joshua Zirkzee and Christian Eriksen.
Bruno Fernandes remains unsubbable for now.
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78 min Lammers is booked for what looked a decent tackle on Fernandes.
76 min: Good save by Unnerstall! Martinesz fires an excellent pass into Zirkzee 25 yards from goal. He lays it off first time to Dalot, gets the return, beats his man with a stepover and blasts a rising drive that is pushed over by Unnerstall. Good stop.
75 min Van Wolfswinkel batters a shot from 25 yards that hits Maguire, possibly in the face. Twente are on top here.
75 min Bruno Fernandes has been very quiet tonight, and for the first time in living memory he looks short on confidence. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s taken off.
74 min: Twente substitution That’s Van Bergen’s last touch; he’s replaces by Sayfallah Ltaief.
73 min Van Bergen cuts inside from the left and overhits a fairly simple cross with Van Rooij in all sorts of space at the far post. That was a chance.
72 min That goal has winded United, who looked about as comfortable as you can be at 1-0. Now Twente are full of the joys and pushing for a winner.
71 min Rots slides a terrific through pass to Regeer (I think), who can’t take it in his stride and is tackled by Mazraoui. A cleaner touch would have put him through on goal.
FC Twente have equalised out of nothing. The intrepid right-back Van Rooij went on a barnstorming run through midfield, beating three or four players and covering 60 yards. Ugarte made a very good tackle but then Eriksen dithered and was robbed on the blindside by Lammers. He galloped into the area, gave Onana the eyes and whipped the ball past him at the near post.
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GOAL! Man Utd 1-1 FC Twente (Lammers 68)
Hello!
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67 min: Man Utd substitution Alejandro Garnacho, who could breathe life into a Brian Eno song, replaces Amad.
66 min “If this blog is the result of machine learning based on the output of one Rob Smyth,” says Matt Dony, “then I would have expected at least one Sopranos reference.”
All due respect, you got no effin’ idea what it’s like to write a football liveblog. Every decision you make, effects every facet of every other effin’ thing. It’s too much to deal with almost. And in the end, you’re completely alone with it all.
64 min Ugarte overruns the ball in the area but then crunches a defender to win a corner. He’s had a decent game, and his style is slightly reminiscent of Remi Moses. Now all United need is for Kobbie Mainoo to become Bryan Robson.
62 min Rots gives Bruno Fernandes a good reason to go down by planting his studs into the achilles. That looked painful and he should really have been booked.
61 min Zirkzee and Dalot, who has spent most of the night in central midfield, combine neatly to find Rashford on the left side of the area. He tries a first-time curler across goal that is well blocked by Van Rooij.
61 min: Double substitution for Twente Daan Rots and Mathias Kjolo replace Sem Steijn, which is a surprise, and Michel Vlap.
60 min The Twente fans appeal for handball when the corner hits Fernandes. Nobody on the field seems too interested. It eventually leads to another corner, which is headed over by the backpedalling Hilgers at the far post. An awkward chance.
59 min The resulting free-kick is 25 yards from goal, to the left of centre. Steijn curls a decent, dipping effort towards the far corner that is pushed behind by the diving Onana. I think would have hit the post anyway but he couldn’t take any chances.
58 min Martinez wipes out some poor sucker in a white shirt and is rightly booked.
57 min With nothing much happening on the field, this is a good time to reveal that, in a groundbreaking experiment, this live blog is being written by Artificical Intelligence.
The Guardian has created an exclusive blogbot, Mr Bloggy, which has been fed every minute-by-minute report that Rob Smyth has written since 2004, and this is the result.
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55 min One-nil can be a dangerous lead, almost as dangerous as 2-0, but right now United are in control and keeping Twente at arm’s length.
53 min Amad slithers away from Salah-Eddine, who recovers to make a desperate and vital challenge in the area. The resulting corner bounces nicely for Maguire, who twists to smack the bouncing ball straight at Unnerstall from eight yards. Decent chance.
51 min A decent little spell for Twente. Vlap’s cross is headed away by Maguire, but United lose possession and Twente pick up where they left off.
48 min A deft touch from Zirkzee releases Dalot, who tries to run through the entire defence before running out of room on the edge of the area. Zirkzee’s link play can be really neat.
46 min And they’re off. No substitutions, not one.
“Please don’t knock the faint whiff of sterile domination,” says Jason Jawando. “I’ve had many a successful night on the town after splashing on a bit of sterile domination because I’d run out of Brut.”
That’s funny, which makes me even more ashamed to admit I can’t read it without the voice in my head shouting: ‘Yeah but it doesn’t work because if it was an aftershave it’d be a proper noun so the S and the D would be capitalised like the B in Brut. You’re welcome.’
This is what I have to live with, every day.
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“Erik ten Hag treats objects like women,” says Gerry Scott, and if you haven’t seen The Big Lebowski you may wonder what the blessed hell he’s talking about.
He and I, meanwhile, may wonder what the blessed hell you’ve done with the last 26 years of your life.
“Just noticed Erik ten Hag scribbling a note on a scrappy bit of paper in the rain with a four-colour biro,” says Aran Scutcher. “He looks like he’s about to rush out the house to go to the supermarket. This is a multi-billion dollar business, ETH is paid millions and it’s 2024. Surely there’s a better way to record his tactical observations?”
Do we know they’re tactical observations? I assumed he was doing a Jackie Treehorn scribble to keep himself entertained.
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Half time: Man Utd 1-0 FC Twente
A low-key first half at Old Trafford. Man Utd played some optimistic football without really threatening until Christian Eriksen swept them ahead with a superb goal.
FC Twente started brightly, and Sam Lammers might have given them an early lead, but they need to get Sem Steijn on the ball a lot more.
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44 min Steijn wins a corner for Twente, which leads to another when Rashford hacks the ball behind. The second corner is hung up towards Hilgers at the far post. He heads it down and United clear. You can’t get the set-piece coaches these days.
42 min Twente’s attacking threat has faded as the half has progressed, though they are still trying to make something happen. They haven’t lacked belief, only a bit of Roy Keane’s favourite word.
40 min After a patient, well-worked move from United, Mazraoui’s low cross is too close to Unnerstall.
39 min “I’m sorry, but this is a Jack conspiracy of the highest order,” thunders Matt Dony. “Cardiff may be damp, but Swansea? Swansea is on another meteorological level. Perpetually grey and drizzly and grim. Astonishingly so. Big Weather have a lot to answer for.”
Big Weather? I’m sure I heard them on 6 Music earlier.
37 min The goal was the first shot on target by a United player. They haven’t played badly, I should stress that, but their performance has hit a whiff of our old friend sterile domination.
Bruno Fernandes fired a pass into the area for Dalot, who couldn’t quite control it on the run and was tackled by Hilgers. The ball ran loose to Eriksen, 15 yards out to the left of centre, and he sizzled a first-time drive into the far top corner. Lovely goal.
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GOAL! Man Utd 1-0 FC Twente (Eriksen 35)
Christian Eriksen puts Man Utd ahead with a belter!
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33 min Amad’s corner from the right is overhit and collected by Rashford on the far side. He nutmegs Van Wolfswinkel with a beautiful elastico, moves into the area and tees up Martinez, whose shot is blocked.
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32 min The right-back Van Rooij cuts inside, beats Rashford and Fernandes with ease but shoots straight at Onana from 20 yards.
29 min It sums up United’s performance, which has been bright at times but without much penetration, that their only decent effort on target came from a Twente defender.
26 min: Brilliant save by Unnerstall! Fernandes drills a long, angled cross towards Martinez, still up following a corner, and he heads it down towards Zirkzee. Hilgers gets in front of Zirkzee, panics and punts a confused volley towards the top corner of his own net. Unnerstall reacts marvellously to leap to his left and claw the ball behind. That’s a seriously good save.
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25 min Dalot is fouled 30 yards from goal. United take the free-kick short and do nothing with it.
21 min Sem Steijn, Twente’s No10 and best player, has been quiet so far. If he gets on the ball, there could be something in this for Twente because United aren’t really creating much.
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18 min Amad slows down to draw a defender towards him, then skips elegantly away from him and into the box. His cutback deflects to Fernandes, whose shot is well blocked. The ball ricochets about a bit until Eriksen has another effort that deflects through to the keeper.
16 min Salah-Eddine moves into the area and has a shot smother by Mazraoui. He looks a useful attacking left-back.
15 min The away end are making a fine noise, and their intrepid team are giving them plenty to shout about. A neat, precise counter-attack ends when Vlap’s awkward cross is cleared well by Dalot (I think) at the far post.
13 min Bruns is booked for a foul on Amad.
12 min “Not sure Orkney counts as a city, so the Google citation probably still stands, at least vis a vis Orkney,” says Richard Hirst.
This, folks, is why you should always read emails properly before mouthing off. Even if you are trying to liveblog an association football match at the same time. Less is more, goodnight.
11 min Rashford plays a neat one-two with Zirkzee, whose return flick behind his standing leg is a thing of defensive-splitting beauty, and slides a low cross that is cut out. Rashford looks lively.
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9 min A United corner breaks for Rashford, whose snapshot is well blocked.
8 min: Just wide from Lammers! The corner isn’t cleared properly, with Dalot losing the ball near the corner flag on the other side. Van Rooij crosses early towards the near post, where the unmarked Lammers opens his body to guide a left-foot shot across goal. It beats Onana and rolls this far wide of the far post. At first I thought it kissed the post but replays suggest otherwise.
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7 min Van Bergen plays in the overlapping left-back Salah-Eddine, who scoots into the area and is well tackled by Mazraoui. Corner to Twente…
5 min “I have no comment on the match itself, I just wanted to note that though a cursory Google search revealed Cardiff as the wettest city in the UK,” says Matt Burtz. “I find that hard to believe when every MBM from a game in Manchester seems to indicate both 1) that it’s raining and 2) that it’s raining quite hard.”
Having lived in the otherwise beautiful Orkney for almost six years, I would like to offer both you and Google outside. There were some days when the window for a dry dog walk was about 10 minutes.
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3 min Ugarte overhits a crossfield pass to Rashford, although it was a good spot. He’s made a bright start – as have Twente, who look confident and up for a bit of gianticide.
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1 min Ugarte shows why United bought him by reading and intercepting a pass inside the first minute. Er, that’s it.
1 min And they’re off. United are kicking from left to right as we watch.
The players are about to walk into the moist Manchester night. As they do so, here’s a reminder of the teams.
Man Utd (4-2-3-1) Onana; Mazraoui, Maguire, Martinez, Dalot; Ugarte, Eriksen; Amad, Fernandes, Rashford; Zirkzee.
Substitutes: Bayindir, Heaton, De Ligt, Mount, Hojlund, Garnacho, Casemiro, Antony, Evans, Mainoo, Collyer.
FC Twente (possible 4-2-3-1) Unnerstall; Van Rooij, Hilgers, Bruns, Salah-Eddine; Regeer, Vlap; Van Wolfswinkel, Steijn, Van Bergen; Lammers.
Substitutes: El Maach, Tyton, Lagerbielke, Kjolo, Kuipers, Eiting, D Rots, Van Hoorenbeeck, Mesbahi, Ltaief, M Rots, Besselink.
Referee Simone Sozza (Italy)
On this day in 1982… Man Utd and Arsenal drew 0-0 for the fifth time in seven games. But the players would soon kick some life into a dying fixture.
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It’s now hosing it down in Manchester, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
On this day in 2001… United got a taste of their own medicine.
Opta’s computer makes Man Utd sixth favourites to win the Europa League. Interesting to see Slavia Prague above them. Isn’t it?
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There’s loads of football tonight in the Europa League and Carabao Cup. You can follow those games with Yara El-Shaboury.
Read Jonathan Wilson on Man Utd
The nature of the modern United is that they cannot be trusted. They will inexplicably fail to do the basics of defending. They will contrive comical ways to have goals ruled out for offside. They will waste opportunities. In part it’s quality, in part it’s mentality, in part it’s the area where the two meet, and in part it’s confidence.
Last week we scored seven against Barnsley, we are capable of scoring many goals, but it’s a part of the game we have to improve.
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Team news: Ugarte starts
The Uruguay midfielder Manuel Ugarte will make his full debut for United. Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire also return to the starting XI, with Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho and Matthijs de Ligt moved to the rotation seats in the dugout.
FC Twente make a couple of changes to the team that won 5-0 away to Almere on Sunday. The captain Ricky van Wolfswinkel, once of Norwich City, and Michel Vlap replace Daan Rots and Carel Eiting.
Man Utd (4-2-3-1) Onana; Mazraoui, Maguire, Martinez, Dalot; Ugarte, Eriksen; Amad, Fernandes, Rashford; Zirkzee.
Substitutes: Bayindir, Heaton, De Ligt, Mount, Hojlund, Garnacho, Casemiro, Antony, Evans, Mainoo, Collyer.
FC Twente (possible 4-2-3-1) Unnerstall; Van Rooij, Hilgers, Bruns, Salah-Eddine; Regeer, Vlap; Van Wolfswinkel, Steijn, Van Bergen; Lammers.
Substitutes: El Maach, Tyton, Lagerbielke, Kjolo, Kuipers, Eiting, D Rots, Van Hoorenbeeck, Mesbahi, Ltaief, M Rots, Besselink.
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Preamble
Hello there. The bad news for Manchester United is that they’re back in the Europa League; the good news is that they have a chance of winning it. That hasn’t been the case in the Champions League since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement; they haven’t reached a semi-final since 2011 and last season they finished bottom of their group.
For the time being, the Europa League is United’s level. They won it in 2017, were runners-up in 2021 and reached the quarter-final in Erik ten Hag’s first season. The new format means no Champions League teams will gatecrash the knockout rounds, so the winner will come from the 36 teams in the league stage. The contenders include Spurs, Lazio, Roma, Athletic Bilbao, Porto, Real Sociedad, Eintracht Frankfurt, Galatasaray and Jose Mourinho.
United start at home to FC Twente, who finished third in last season’s Eredivisie after Ajax went awol. Three is the operative number: that’s how many spells Ten Hag had at Twente during his playing career, so this match will mean a lot to him. It won’t be easy, but United can’t afford a false start: their next two Europa League games are away to Porto and Mourinho.
Kick off 8pm.
Erik ten Hag faces a familiar opponent in FC Twente 🤝#UEL pic.twitter.com/xmSyUSlfZz
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) September 25, 2024
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