Jonny Evans admits he put in a poor performance in Slovenia game – Man United News And Transfer News

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Jonny Evans has confessed that his most recent performance in Northern Ireland’s defeat to Slovenia “wasn’t up to scratch.”

Evans, who made his second Manchester United debut in last Sunday’s 1-3 loss against Arsenal and was culpable for the winner, would have been hoping to get back into his groove against Slovenia.

Instead, the Slovenians put the Northern Irishman to the sword in a dominant 4-2 victory that all but ended the latter’s realistic hopes of Euro 2024 qualification.

Erik ten Hag will have monitored this game with some concern as it suggests that Evans may not quite be the solution he has in mind.

Evans was re-signed as United sought to mitigate the effects of an injury crisis in defence.

Now 35, Evans was initially expected to play a limited role, ostensibly against lower-calibre opposition.

However with Raphael Varane already injured, Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof both hobbled off against the Gunners, forcing Ten Hag to throw Evans into the fray.

After his mistakes against the North London side, he was again directly implicated in conceding a goal in the Slovenia game, ending up scoring an own goal.

As he himself put it, according to a Mirror report, “I know I got a goal, but my own personal performance probably wasn’t up to scratch. I’m experienced enough and wise enough to admit that. We can’t be giving away cheap goals at the start of the game like we did.”

To be fair to Evans, he did also score one at the other end of the pitch, somewhat making up for his lapse.

For United, the early signs may not be encouraging, but perhaps time is all that is required for the former Champions League winner to get back up to speed.