Manchester United PLAYER RATINGS: Fred fails to deliver but Christian Eriksen offers positives

Manchester United slipped to an opening night loss in the Europa League after they were surprisingly beaten at home 1-0 by Real Sociedad in their first group stage match.

On a sombre night in the United Kingdom following the sad passing of Queen Elizabeth, United failed to hit top gear on their way to a controversial defeat at the hands of the Spanish side.

A highly debateable penalty call led to Sociedad netting from 12 yards to seal victory but did any of United’s players impress boss Erik ten Hag on Thursday evening? Sportsmail takes a look at how the Dutchman’s side rated.

Manchester United 4-3-3

David de Gea – 6

A quiet game for the United stopper who aside from the penalty kick barely had a worthwhile save to make all evening. Guessed the right way with the spot-kick but couldn’t get a clean hand to keep it out.

David de Gea just failed to get a hand to Real Sociedad’s penalty in Manchester United’s loss

Diogo Dalot – 6.5

Attempted to attack the flank, but perhaps a bit too much and better teams would have exploited the gaps left behind him. Substituted at half-time but unlikely down to poor performance and his departure was probably already planned.

Victor Lindelof – 6 

Decent showing in the first half despite not having much to do but appeared to struggle in the second period as Sociedad started to exploit space on the United right.

Harry Maguire – 6

Needed a clean sheet with a positive performance. Didn’t get the first but the England centre-back did little wrong on an otherwise tidy night for the underfire star.

Harry Maguire did little wrong in the United defence despite his side’s Old Trafford defeat

Tyrell Malacia – 6.5

Showed potential and looked dangerous at times attacking the left side. Withdrawn late on but this was far from a bad performance from the summer signing.

Christian Eriksen – 7 

On another night he would have been sure to grab an assist. United’s most threatening player with plenty of weighed crosses and passes into the box that would have greatly encouraged Ten Hag on the touchline. United missed his threat in the second half.

Christian Eriksen was United’s most dangerous player before his half-time withdrawal

Casemiro – 6.5

The Brazilian’s full debut won’t exactly go down as a memorable one neither will it be known as a disaster. Had little to cover protecting the United defence but did manage to track back often when called upon and made a crucial block.

Fred – 5

Ten Hag experimented with the Brazilian with a more advanced role in the first period. Saw lots of the ball but couldn’t make a fitting final pass and the experiment was abandoned in the second half when he dropped deeper. Booked for a poor challenge.

Fred couldn’t shine in a more advanced role and had little influence after dropping deeper

Antony – 6.5

Looked good on the ball with his usual bag of tricks but there was no end product from the forward, although he had one decent effort well saved.

Cristiano Ronaldo – 6.5

Heavily involved but this is not the Ronaldo of old. Constantly offside including for his disallowed goal, which admittedly he took brilliantly with a leaping header. Faded badly as United withered in the second half.

Cristiano Ronaldo had a night to forget in front of goal after seeing a header disallowed

Anthony Elanga – 6.5

Linked up well with team-mates but offered nothing in the way of goal scoring chances. Just as ineffective as Antony was on the opposite flank.

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Lisandro Martinez – 6.5

Caught out early in the second half after being beaten to a header but improved as the half went on and was very harshly penalised for the penalty call going against him. 

Bruno Fernandes – 6.5

Came on for the second half and made an instant impact by delivering a cross that Ronaldo headed wide. Then almost nothing for the rest of the half.

Bruno Fernandes could not offer the same creativity as Eriksen after coming on at the break

Jadon Sancho – 6

Came on for the final 20 minutes with United chasing the game but hardly contributed, narrowly failing to get on the end of a Fred cross being his highlight.

Charlie McNeill – 6

Made his debut in the final five minutes but far too late to have any influence.

Alejandro Garnacho -6

Came on along with Sancho but also failed to spark United into gear.