Manchester United made it two losses in a row again last night. The whole team mostly was bad, but Eriksen just showed why he is increasingly a weak link.
The game was awful despite the moments of jubilation in between as Rasmus Hojlund scored twice.
Hojlund’s Danish compatriot however Christian Eriksen had a horrendous cameo that showcased his decline and worrying traits all in one.
Being brought on at half-time for Hannibal Mejbri, as Glenn Hoddle explained on TNT sports, to “try and control the game”, Eriksen did the opposite.
He was guilty of giving the ball away multiple times in the first few minutes,
All in dangerous places and showing little, to no desire to get back and try to recover the ball.
Obviously he had that one moment of class setting Marcus Rashford through,
Only for the Englishman to scupper the chance, but he showed he can’t fit into this team anymore.
Eriksen isn’t a fit at United anymore
Erisken was sloppy on the ball with a 67% pass completion and lost possession a whopping 17 times, despite being Casemiro’s partner charged with building play.
As usual he was also bypassed so easily and in every Galatasaray attack,
Eriksen was seen jogging or walking back towards his own goal, a ferry from the gut busting runs Hannibal was making.
In a team full of runners, Eriksen looks lost and it keeps making Erik ten Hag pay, as time after time his work-rate and invisibility off the ball comes under fire.
This resulted in United losing control of the match opposed to the opposite that he was brought on to do.
Signed as a free-agent in 2022, Eriksen was never supposed to be a long term solution,
And now at 31-years-old he looks lost out there at times.
Obviously he is capable of creating chances, but as a whole,
The team suffers when he is on the field as everyone else around him needs to run twice as much.
The obvious answer is to look toward Saudi Arabia for his this winter or summer,
But with a contract until 2025, all the power is with the player.
United quite clearly need an option in his role who has both the legs and technical ability to be creative.
It is hard to imagine a world where Kobbie Mainoo doesn’t surpass Eriksen upon his return to the team, like Hannibal has done already.
