Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Manchester United, Fenerbahce, Football, Joshua Zirkzee, Erik Ten Hag
Ryan Smart
Topics: Manchester United, Fenerbahce, Football, Joshua Zirkzee, Erik Ten Hag
A Manchester United player has been heavily criticised after his side's 1-1 draw with Fenerbahce in the Europa League and told he should not play for the club again.
United picked up their third consecutive draw in the Europa League this season, and currently occupy a play-off round place in the table.
Erik ten Hag's side have not been able to defeat any of Fenerbahce, AZ Alkmaar and Porto, although some would argue that they have faced their toughest tests in this season's group stage.
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Christian Eriksen opened the scoring for United in Turkey on Thursday, with Fenerbahce's second half equaliser arriving through club-record signing Youssef En Nesyri.
Ten Hag took a threadbare squad to Turkey amid several injury issues, with right-back Noussair Mazraoui selected to play in attacking midfield in a surprise decision.
Joshua Zirkzee, meanwhile, started as the sole centre forward, with Rasmus Hojlund being eased back into action following his recovery from a hamstring injury suffered in pre-season.
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The Dane ended up replacing Zirkzee after 55 minutes, and fans were not impressed with the Dutchman's performance.
Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O'Hara took to Twitter to fume: "This Zirkzee character is an imposter how he's playing for Man Utd, madness."
Fellow talkSPORT contributor Gabby Agbonlahor was also critical of the former Bologna forward before the game, stating: "He's got the time, but he's been poor since the start of the season."
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But Fenerbahce boss Jose Mourinho appeared to praise United's gameplan in regards to the centre forward in his post-match press conference.
He explained: "I think he [Ten Hag] tried, I know what he tried.
"My only doubt was Zirkzee or Hojlund, the difference of these two players. I know both of them very well, because both played in Italy on my time [at Roma].
"I think what they tried with Zirkzee was to see if I was going to press Zirkzee when he drops in between the lines. If I don't go, they have one extra player in there. If I go, they try and create space for Garnacho and Rashford to attack diagonals.
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"We had to choose. Then when he comes with Hojlund, he tries to attack the spaces more. So I think strategically, he [Ten Hag] was good."