Manchester United Fan View: Three things we learned after first league defeat

Huddersfield vs Manchester United, a game that was recently hyped as a rivalry between the county of Yorkshire and Lancashire, ended in an infamous 2-1 victory for David Wagner’s side. The home team showed true desire, commitment and passion from the first minute of the game untill the end, which is what Jose Mourinho’s men have been lacking in the last couple of weeks.

Here are the three things we learned from Manchester United’s first defeat in the league…

It was game over once Phil Jones came off in the 23rd minute with an injury

Despite having a fantastic campaign so far up to date, Phil Jones has picked up another injury which forced him to leave the pitch within the first half an hour of the game. Mourinho showed his faith and patience in the Englishman, by giving him nine league appearances so far this season. However, it was the player himself who was left disappointed on Saturday, as he could not continue with the match due to the injury that he picked up.

If the fans had thought the departure of Jones was awful news, it went from bad to worse within the next 10 minutes as the introduction of Victor Lindelof did not help the side at all. The summer signing had a nightmare of an appearance, from being at fault for the first goal, for not closing the attacker down quickly, to failing to head the ball way which led Laurent Depoitre to score Huddersfield’s second goal of the game.

Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera cannot play together in a double pivot

Just like the games away against Liverpool and Benfica, the side had failed to create enough chances with the central midfield pairing of Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera. Both players cannot be blamed because Mourinho does not have enough options to choose within that position. On the other hand, the manager has to be flexible to some extent and work around this issue that has been going on for quite some time.

On top of that, Matic and Herrera are very similar players defensively and do not have enough creativity in them to help United attack through the middle. If it’s worth a try, then youngster Scott McTominay should be given a match or two, especially if either Marouane Fellaini or Paul Pogba are not expected to return to full match fitness anytime soon. Due to this problem, Mourinho will not be able to play with a three-man midfield against Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea within the next few weeks.

The manager as well as the players should be blamed as a whole, not just one of them

When it comes to who gets the most blame following an embarrassing defeat, it’s mainly the manager and hardly the players if you look into the English media on a daily basis. Looking back at the performance from Saturday, the starting line-up and tactics in both halves of the game chosen by Mourinho seriously have to be questioned, whilst the lack of character and passion from the players was painful to watch.

Also, the fact that Mourinho was flirting around with Ligue 1 side Paris-Saint Germain during the week does not help at all, because it felt like his heart and mind is not focused at Old Trafford and he is already planning his next destination after Manchester United. Furthermore, most of the players did not go to the away section to applaud the supporters for their support, which implies the awful attitude they have in them and it’s something that Mourinho needs to work on before it’s too late.