The bitter return of Varane

Raphaël Varane returned to play on Monday. Two months after their last meeting. He had not yet been available for Ralf Rangnick, but at St James’ Park he returned to the starting team. Soon, at six minutes, he made a mistake that his team paid dearly for. He won the game over Callum Wilson, who was trying to receive a throw-in with his back turned to De Gea’s goal, still in midfield. The French defender took the ball, but was lacking in spark. The intensity that is assumed in a team trained by Rangnick was lacking. Varane was the perfect example. He fell asleep and Sean Longstaff took his wallet from him.

And then he assisted Allan Saint-Maximin, who opened the scoring. It was one of the main incorporations of last summer. His was the job of offering defensive reliability at last. He was going to lead behind with Harry Maguire, but Raphaël Varane has been put to bed by settling down in the team, first with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and then with Ralf Rangnick. Especially due to physical problems. In October he returned from a concentration with the French team with a pubalgia. He subsequently damaged his hamstrings in the draw against Atalanta in the Champions League. He has only been able to play ten games with his new team, showing the same lights and shadows as the rest of his teammates.

An irregular central in an irregular set. Only in games, against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur, did he help Manchester United finish with a clean sheet. Capabilities has. His passing game, his anticipation and his calm to get the ball played are his main attributes. The world champion with France, and the European champion with Real Madrid, is not short of stripes. In the absence of finding a rhythm and winning regularly, the Frenchman has the consolation of not knowing defeat yet with his own team. Although this may be insufficient relief. Only the appearance of Edinson Cavani in the second half prevented Raphaël Varane’s mistake from having a higher cost. The Uruguayan rescued a point marking twenty minutes to go.