Manchester United fan and presenter Mark Goldbridge has been left fuming after an update on summer signing Manuel Ugarte.
Man Utd 1-1 FC Twente
The Red Devils’ slow start to the new campaign continued on Wednesday evening, this time in the Europa League, with Erik ten Hag only managing a draw at Old Trafford against former club FC Twente.
Christian Eriksen opened the scoring in the first half, however in the second, he was caught out which allowed Sam Lammers to level things up. Talking after the game, Ten Hag, who appears to be under pressure from the Red Devils hierarchy, admitted he and his players were “very frustrated”.
“We kept them alive, we were 1-0 up, controlling the game. You have to be consistent and keep going in the second half, we dropped the level and gave the goal away. We didn’t finish it off, we had to go for the second goal and so they [FC Twente] stay alive and we get punished with a mistake from ourselves. We are very frustrated, yeah.
“The goal, it’s a team mistake, a player of Twente can dribble through almost the whole pitch, or half the pitch, without stopping. That is not acceptable, we can’t give a goal away like this. We have seen, again, you have to keep going for the whole game; once you are 1-0 up you have to keep going and go for the second goal.”
One player who featured alongside Eriksen was summer signing Ugarte, making just his second start for the Red Devils. The Uruguay international played the entirety of the 1-1 draw, however, some supporters weren’t impressed with what they saw from the midfielder.
Ugarte criticism after second Man Utd start as Goldbridge reacts
Shared in a report by SPORTbible, some Man Utd supporters criticised Ugarte, with a selection of social media responses to his display available to view below.
- “Thought people were too harsh on Ugarte but bro is not good.”
- “Why is Ugarte shooting? He never scored a goal in his career, you’re just wasting possession.”
- “We had academy lads better than this guy and I will die on this hill as its proven throughout the season.”
- “We could have got Amadou Onana for the same price man.”
- “McTominay is twice the player Ugarte is.”
Goldbridge was quick to see the displeasure aimed at Ugarte and called the “pile on a disgrace”, adding in a separate X post that “football is truly lost”.
As per SofaScore, Ugarte was Man Utd’s joint third-best performer or the Red Devils on Wednesday, recording a match rating of 7.5/10. The 23-year-old completed 81% of his passes, won six of his 10 duels, made four tackles, two interceptions and two clearances, so the criticism does feel harsh as Goldbridge alludes to.
