Uruguayan media react to 93-touch Manuel Ugarte display vs Peru

[ad_1]

Manuel Ugarte started for Uruguay on Friday night against Peru, all in a somewhat unfamiliar position.

After a struggling start to life with Manchester United, heading to Uruguay to link up with his international teammates will have been a welcome change.

However, it was an unhappy evening in the end as Peru actually came out 1-0 winners over Uruguay which is something of a shock considering Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay are often very impressive.

It was Manuel Ugarte’s first performance in two weeks as Erik ten Hag left him out of the draws to both Porto and Aston Villa.

For Manchester United’s new £42m midfielder, the game also presented a somewhat unfamiliar challenge as he started in central defence.

Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images After Ugarte’s performance, the Uruguayan press have been reacting.

El Observador rated Ugarte’s performance against Peru, handing him an 8/10 match rating and explaining he was the best Uruguayan player in the match.

“The best player in Uruguay not only for the way he defended or for how he treated the ball but for his attitude throughout the game.

“He played as a free player in the three-line of the defence. He imposed his style of play, to go out with the ball at his feet.

“At the end of the first half, in the worst moment of Uruguay, he lost a ball that generated a risk situation on the rainbow and the same Manchester United midfielder corrected his mistake with a good tackle.”

The 8/10 from El Observador was in huge contrast to how El Pais scored his performance. Ugarte only got a 4/10 from this outlet, as they explained.

“Although he was very confident in a play in which he delivered dangerously inside the area after recovering, he won the individual duels in an unusual position. Much sacrifice. Sometimes he risked too much and that played a trick on him in the complement.”

How Manchester United’s Ugarte played vs Peru Starting in the middle of a back three as he did in the Copa America semi-final, Ugarte was impressive and had 93 touches of the ball as he lasted the entire 90 minutes.

Ugarte’s ability on the ball was impressive as he completed 71/80 passes (89 per cent).

These passes included two long balls completed which was just 33 per cent of the long balls he attempted.

Defensively, Ugarte was also impressive.

StatVs. PeruBlocks1Clearances1Headed clearances1Interceptions2Defensive actions9Recoveries8Duels won9 This is the kind of performance which we thought Ugarte would bring to United, solving the issue of the midfield being so easily bypassed.