Manchester
United produced a lacklustre display as their Europa League campaign began in
defeat at Feyenoord.
Jose Mourinho
made eight changes from the team beaten by Manchester City and an Anthony
Martial shot going wide was their only first-half chance.
Zlatan
Ibrahimovic came on for the visitors and headed wide as he failed to turn
around his side's fortunes.
Instead,
Nicolai Jorgensen, who was offside, crossed for Tonny Vilhena to drive in
Feyenoord's late winner.
Ibrahimovic
went close to an equaliser with a drilled free-kick but it was saved at the
second attempt by former Liverpool keeper Brad Jones.
The defeat
means United have lost four successive European away games for the first time.
Pogba's midfield struggles
Paul Pogba, who re-joined United in a world-record £89m move from
Juventus in August, had his lack of discipline and positioning heavily criticised
by ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher following Saturday's
derby defeat by City.
If playing alongside Ander Herrera and Morgan Schniederlin in midfield
against Feyenoord was supposed to allow him freedom to display his attacking
skills, Pogba failed to take the opportunity to do so.
The France international was a peripheral figure in the first half as he
epitomised a lack of urgency and intensity from the visitors.
Pogba pushed further up the pitch after the break and, despite looking a
little more threatening as he attempted two long-range shots which went
comfortably off target, he could not find the quality to help find a way
through the Dutch side's defence.
How did a Rooney-less Man Utd play?
England forward Wayne Rooney has played behind United's main striker so
far this season but was rested for this trip.
United boss Jose Mourinho claimed he had other "solutions" for
the role but the poor performance of his supporting cast of players can have
done little to persuade him of the strength of his other options.
The midfield trio of Herrera, Schneiderlin and Pogba, along with wingers
Anthony Martial and Juan Mata, left Marcus Rashford too isolated.
Rashford, who burst on to the scene with two goals in a 5-1 Europa League
win over FC Midtjylland on his Manchester United debut in February, struggled
as he made his first start of the campaign.
He was replaced by Ibrahimovic, who was part of a triple substitution
after 63 minutes which also introduced Memphis Depay and Ashley Young, and the
Swede gave the attack more of a threat but United still did not look like
scoring.
Asked if the players who came in failed to take their chance, Mourinho
said: "I don't want to go in that direction. I don't want to personalise.
Obviously, some played better than others. It was the first game for
some."
On his selection for this coming Sunday's Premier League trip to Watford,
the manager added: "We go back to a normal team without so many
changes."
Familiar
faces come back to haunt United
Eredivise leaders Feyenoord came into the game in good form, having won
their opening five league games, scoring 15 and conceding twice in the process.
Managed by former Arsenal and Barcelona left-back Giovanni van
Bronckhorst, their team included former Liverpool players Dirk Kuyt, who scored
a hat-trick against United in 2011 in his time at Anfield, and Jones.
Keeper Jones had a much quieter evening than he might have expected and
the Dutch side could have taken the lead in the first half when Jens Toornstra
blazed high when he had time and space to shoot.
They defended with purpose to nullify United's limited threat and were
rewarded with Vilhena's goal, even though Jorgensen was clearly offside when he
supplied the cross.
Man of
the match - Eric Botteghin
What
they said:
Feyenoord
manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst: "In the second half you
saw that Manchester United want to win with the tempo and the three
substitutions, you sensed that they want to leave here with the win.
"At the right moment we scored the goal - a fantastic goal on the
counter-attack.
"After that the spirit came in the team and the determination to be
there for the last 15 minutes. We fought hard to get the result and after 90
minutes we did."
The
stats you need to know
- Jose Mourinho
was managing a side in the Europa League for the first time since winning
the competition with Porto in 2003, when it was called the Uefa Cup.
- Zlatan
Ibrahimovic made his first appearance in the competition since November
2001, when he was playing for Ajax.
- For the first
time in their history, Manchester United have lost their opening group
game in Europe in consecutive seasons.
- United have gone
six games without a clean sheet in Europe since a 0-0 draw with PSV in
November 2015.
What
next?
Manchester United are in Premier League action on Sunday, when they travel
to Watford for a 12:00 BST kick-off. Feyenoord face a trip to PSV Eindhoven in
a top-of-the-table Eredivisie match.
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