da dobrowin： In a season that has had more ups and downs than a Thorpe Park rollercoaster, Manchester United were dealt yet another reality check away to Sevilla in the Europa League on Thursday evening, having slipped to a shock, 3-0 defeat against the La Liga strugglers to crash out of the competition.
da luck： After the lows of defeats against the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Brentford so far this term, Erik ten Hag's men perhaps reached a new nadir in Andalusia yesterday, having simply "wilted" against a side who are currently 13th in Spain's top-flight, as per The Athletic's Laurie Whitwell.
It was, undoubtedly, a grim showing from the Red Devils from start to finish on the night, with long-serving stopper David De Gea having undoubtedly been the worst of the bunch, after making three "dreadful" errors, as per The Mirror's Colin Mirror, for all three goals.
The 32-year-old notably gave possession to captain Harry Maguire in the build-up to the first goal despite the Englishman being surrounded by three white shirts, before being far too easily beaten by a looping, guided effort from Loic Bade just after the break.
The Spaniard's night of misery reached its peak late on as he inexplicably gifted the ball straight to the feet of opposition striker Youssef En-Nesyri, with the Moroccan international duly slotting home from range for his second of the night.
As the aforementioned Whitwell noted, that performance from the former Atletico Madrid man has sparked "long-term questions" over his future at the club, with it yet to be seen if the experienced stopper will be handed an extension on his expiring deal.
It would be wrong, however, to suggest that De Gea was the only villain last night, with midfield maestro Christian Eriksen having also been well below-par at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium.
How did Eriksen perform against Sevilla?
It was only a matter of days ago that the returning Dane was being lauded for his performance in the weekend win over Nottingham Forest, with the 31-year-old – who had replaced the injured Marcel Sabitzer just moments before kick-off – having been "masterful" at the City Ground, according to Manchester Evening News journalist, Samuel Luckhurst.
After the highs of that performance, the former Tottenham Hotspur man – who has only recently returned from a lengthy injury layoff – was brought crashing back down to earth in Seville, forming part of a midfield trio that was simply "schooled" by the likes of Ivan Rakitic and Fernando, according to MEN's Tyrone Marshall.
As the Independent's Jamie Braidwood wrote, Eriksen simply 'didn't look ready' to compete against the six-time Europa League winners, having been 'guiilty of careless lapses when United needed him to be a calming influence', as per Luckhurst.
Those woes were laid bare by the fact that while the £150k-per-week dud did register three key passes from his deep-lying berth, he also lost possession on 23 occasions from his 79 touches, having proved a rare liability on the ball.
The 120-cap playmaker seemingly 'could not handle Sevilla's intensity' – according to GOAL's Richard Martin – having won just four of his nine total duels on the day, while also being dribbled past on two occasions as a marker of his shortcomings defensively.
The hope will be that such an outing was a mere blip for both the summer arrival and Ten Hag's men as a whole, with the top-four hopefuls having little time to lick their wounds ahead of Sunday's FA Cup semi-final showdown with Brighton and Hove Albion.