ERIK TEN HAG and FC Twente is a love story that goes back to the Dutchman’s childhood.

But this was a familiar tale of woe for the Manchester United boss.

A fine strike from Christian Eriksen gave his team the lead at a point in the first-half when they had looked vulnerable without being punished.

The equaliser that followed in the 68th minute came at a point when the game was beginning to drift. United seemed happy to plod along before their opponents forced their hand. A burst of energy from Bart van Rooij caught them cold, and when the initial threat seemed to have been dealt with, a mistake from Eriksen gifted Twente a chance on goal.

They took it, striker Sam Lammers burrowing into the box and then burying an effort into Andre Onana’s near post.

All of a sudden the game was in the balance. United were a rabble and Twente were probing.

From a kind of stupor the game was now a staggering mess.

Ten Hag, a boyhood Twente supporter who then played and coached for the club, stood on the line in a familiar pose: a mixture of curiosity and disbelief.

But we’ve all seen this play out before.

He had already thrown Alejandro Garnacho on as a substitute in the seconds before the equaliser, perhaps appreciating how the tempo had dropped and his team were vulnerable.

Then, on 79 minutes, a triple change saw Kobbie Mainoo, Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund replace Joshua Zirkzee, Eriksen and Marcus Rashford.

The latter had faded completely in the second half after an encouraging first 45 but these dropped points in the new league phase of this competition owe much to United’s complacency.

An example of that came long before Rashford had started to turn on the style and Eriksen lashed home a stunner into the top corner to maintain his resurgence in the starting XI.

A dangerous Twente corner from the left side flashed into the box but nobody made contact. As the ball spun out to the opposite corner flag Diogo Dalot reacted sharply to make sure he retrieved possession ahead of Bart van Rooij.

The obvious thing – the simple thing – to do next would have been to swipe his left foot at the ball to either clear his lines or win a throw. Buy some time and get up the pitch.

Instead, Dalot tried a backheel.

The Portugal international has become a more prominent operator for Ten Hag’s side and that, perhaps, is part of the problem. While he may be capable and comfortable inverting into midfield, and will always offer you a sporadic moment of class with a long range effort, too often Dalot simply makes the wrong choice.

He was nearly punished in this instance. Van Rooij didn’t buy the backheel and instead sold Dalot a pup, taking the ball and quickly crossing into the box.

It was there that Harry Maguire and Noussair Mazraoui had been completely caught on the hop by their teammate’s actions. Lammers was alert to the opportunity, quickly adjusting his body to let the ball come across to his left, opening his body with a deft side foot that trickled just wide.

There were only eight minutes gone and it didn’t exactly stir United into life.

It took until the 26th minute for Lars Unnerstall to make a save of note, producing a fine reaction save high to his left to deny teammate Mees Hilgers the embarrassment of an own goal.

Rashford, back in the starting XI after being rotated for the stalemate at Crystal Palace on Saturday, was by far United’s most potent threat. There were some clever nutmegs – one which Ronaldinho would have been proud of with a snappy out-to-in movement – and moments of sharpness in his play.

He teed Zirkzee up for a chance the striker should have scored from seven yards out and was the spark of creativity in the build up to Eriksen’s superb goal.

By the time the equaliser came in the 68th minute, when Eriksen turned into danger after Van Rooij had travelled the guts of 60 yards from right back before he was challenged, Rashford had barely touched the ball as his teammates also laboured.

United were unable to sustain any pressure and probe with a conviction to trouble their opponents.

So Twente decided to take the game to them instead and carved an equaliser out of nothing.

There was a late Maguire header that almost earned United a dramatic win, but it would have been an underserved moment of redemption.