Erik ten Hag said he wouldn’t take any pleasure from hurting the club he loved, but it was FC Twente who inflicted the damage on the Manchester United manager at Old Trafford.
United seemed to be heading for a comfortable win in their Europa League opener, and a fourth clean sheet in a row, when Sam Lammers punished a string of errors to equalise for a side lying fourth in the Eredivisie.
It was a painful setback for Ten Hag who had called on his side to be more clinical in the wake of Saturday’s goalless draw at Crystal Palace, but he once again saw them fail to get the win they badly need after starting the new season with three victories in seven games.
Granted, it was hardly the crazy 4-3 Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich this time last year that kicked off an equally manic European campaign, but disappointing all the same.
It could have been so different after Christian Eriksen claimed his third goal in a week with a fantastic strike before half-time, but the Dane was then at fault for Lammers’ leveller.
United’s first game in Europe this season pitted Ten Hag against the club where he spent 23 years in three stints as a player and one as assistant coach, helping to win the club’s one and only Eredivisie title in 2010 under Steve McClaren who was applauded by both sets of fans when Sir Alex Ferguson presented him with a gift before kick-off.
Ten Hag’s affection for his hometown team was evident before this game when he was asked how it felt to be United manager for their first ever meeting with Twente.
‘I would have preferred to play against somebody else. It’s not nice to have to hurt something you love,’ he replied, displaying a human side we seldom get to see.
If that the was the Dutch narrative going into this game, the English angle focussed firmly on Marcus Rashford and Ten Hag’s decision to bench his in-form forward at Crystal Palace on Saturday having discussed the importance of a good lifestyle beforehand.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp probably wasn’t the only one to read more into it, but Ten Hag backed his claim that it was purely rotation by restoring Rashford to the starting line-up along with Harry Maguire and Manuel Ugarte.
He did so with a warning that United had to be more clinical and ‘kill in the box’, yet it was Twente who went closest to a goal in the early stages.
United failed to deal with a corner from the left and Bart Van Rooij stole the ball off Diogo Dalot in the opposite corner before crossing low for Lammers who clipped the far post.
That was as close as the Dutch got, though, as United settled into their game and went ahead before half-time.
Rashford looked in the mood again, tormenting Van Rooij down the United left and beating Ricky van Wolfswinkel with an outrageous nutmeg at one stage in the first half.
He linked up especially well with Joshua Zirkzee and was inches away from presenting him with a goal, but United’s the new £36.5million signing couldn’t quite reach his cross to the edge of the six-yard box.
When Martinez stayed up after a corner and headed Bruno Fernandes’ pass back across goal towards Zirkzee, Mees Hilgers and Van Wolfswinkel cut it out but needed keeper to Lars Unnerstall to stop the ball flying into the top corner.
United’s dominance deserved a goal and they got one in the 35th minute. Eriksen played the ball in from the left flank to Fernandes who made a reverse pass into Dalot.
His poor first touch gave Hilgers the chance to challenge but the ball ran loose to Eriksen and he didn’t hesitate, smashing it into the top corner. It was the Dane’s third goal in three games following last week’s Carabao Cup brace against Barnsley.
Harry Maguire almost made it two eight minutes after the break but fired straight at Unnerstall after his header was blocked at a corner.
If United thought that Twente’s threat had faded, they were very much mistaken.
Martinez was booked for clattering into Sem Steijn who brought a diving save from, Andre Onana with his free kick from 30 yards and a huge roar from the 3,000 Dutch fans who sensed their team were getting close to an equaliser.
They was delirious scenes in the away end when it arrived in the 68th minute.
Much of credit belongs to Van Rooij who ripped through the heart of United with a rampaging run that took out four players including Maguire who had the embarrassment of being nutmegged.
Martinez slid in to stop the defender in his tracks and the danger seemed to have been averted when the ball ran to Eriksen. However, he dithered for a moment and Lammers stole the ball away from him and raced clear to beat Onana who had left his near post unguarded.
