Yet again, Manchester United are counting the cost of another drawn game at Old Trafford.
Kicking off with their hopes of a top four in their own hands, a win would’ve seen them overtake Liverpool and, for a matter of hours at least, Manchester City.
Having taken the lead through a Wayne Rooney penalty in first half stoppage time, United failed to build on their lead. Rooney came closest to doing so, his shot hitting Anthony Martial after the break.
With little over ten minutes to play, Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson was presented with a chance to draw the away side level after Rooney conceded a free-kick on the edge of the United area.
A United wall was assembled with David De Gea’s positioning almost inviting Sigurdsson to shoot for the right hand side of the goal.
Alert to this, Ander Herrera dashes back to cover the corner of the goal…
Sigurdsson then encouraged Fernando Llorente to push forward, played onside by Herrera…
Then, with a bit of persuasion from some of his teammates, Herrera returns to the wall, freeing up the corner for Sigurdsson.
And of course, the inevitable then happened…
Plenty of people pointed out that Herrera’s movement had shown Sigurdsson – a professional footballer who knows a thing or two about taking a good free-kick – which part of the goal he should be aiming at.
Herrera made me laugh before the free kick, showed Sigurdsson the only place Dr Gea couldn't get to
— Matthew Phillips (@matt_the_jack) April 30, 2017
Herrera gets the assist for the Sigurdsson goal right? He showed mans where to put the ball. 😂😂😂
— Goddy (@__TheUnsullied) April 30, 2017
Herrera just ran and showed the Swansea player where to place the free-kick.
— Evusa (@CecilAmbula) April 30, 2017
Because y’know, he’d have never thought to put it in the side of the goal that De Gea wasn’t covering…
Herrera attracted plenty more criticism for the incident, too…
https://twitter.com/Aaron_Turney95/status/858667328460001280
I love Ander Herrera but got no idea what he was playing at for the free kick, you're not on fifa pal
— Jonathan Evans (@Jonathan_Evanss) April 30, 2017
Just saw united vs Swansea highlights, what was Herrera thinking? Gylfi though, brilliant free kick
— Dheeraj (@THE_RAJ14) April 30, 2017
https://twitter.com/ambar_hitman/status/858683345479360512
Not only did he achieve nothing, Herrera distracted De Gea. Free-kick was going in regardless but everything leading up to it was stupid!
— Red (@ThatBoyGiggsy) April 30, 2017
