Manchester United: Must-win Champions League match leaves nowhere to hide
After coming unstuck against Young Boys, United cannot afford to slip further against Villarreal
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Your support makes all the difference.There’s a simple formula for successful football teams. Employ the best manager available and buy the finest players you can afford. Get the first half of the equation wrong and even the most expensive squads start from a point of weakness. Manchester United are in that position now.
Bruno Fernandes’ public apology for missing a penalty in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa was more than a piece of muddleheaded PR. It is a symptom of a club where something is not quite right. That something is the manager. Among other things.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a Stretford End hero but the 48-year-old lacks the experience and tactical nous that United need. The side does not have an identity. The Norwegian appears not to know his best team. His methods are confused, the selection questionable and the substitutions bizarre. If they drop points tonight against Villarreal at Old Trafford their chances of qualification for the knockout rounds of the Champions League will shrink dramatically. The defeat by Young Boys in the first group game earlier this month exposed many of the manager’s flaws. Solskjaer’s advocates listed a number of excuses but rationalisations and regrets should not be part of United’s culture. They are learning to accept the unacceptable at Old Trafford.
That goes beyond the manager. The leadership at the club is poor from the Glazers downwards. The owners’ dalliance with the Super League reeked of fear and their response to supporters’ protests has been to pander to the fanbase. Solskjaer’s contract was extended during the summer and while Cristiano Ronaldo’s second coming is popular, it suggests a lack of coherent long-term strategy. The manager was unsure whether the Portuguese’s return was the right thing to do but the intervention of Sir Alex Ferguson gave the deal a momentum that became unstoppable. It was hardly a case of Solskjaer putting his stamp on the team.
Villarreal, who beat United on penalties in the Europa League final in May, are not the sort of side you need turning up on your doorstep as questions grow. Unai Emery is the opposite of his United counterpart. The Spaniard knows how to organise a team. Although the 49-year-old could not unpick the institutional dysfunction at Arsenal during his difficult 18 months in the Premier League, Emery has a history of producing teams that are greater than the sum of their parts. Anything other than a United victory tonight will increase the scrutiny on Solskjaer. Villarreal will not be easy to beat.
Solskjaer has plenty of offensive weapons to hand – Ronaldo, Fernandes, Paul Pogba, Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood, and Marcus Rashford will be back soon – but the team lacks balance. The United manager’s best moments have come when his side counter-attack but it does not take a tactical genius to nullify this approach. They will win games through individual brilliance but they leave too much to chance.
On Saturday Solskjaer played Pogba out wide in a position more suited to Sancho, who had been taken off in Berne when Aaron Wan-Bissaka was sent off. The decision-making around Sancho has caused internal dissent at Old Trafford. The 21-year-old cost £73 million from Borussia Dortmund but, even after a long courtship with the winger, United seem to lack a clear plan to get the best out of him. Pogba will recognise the syndrome.
The Champions League is where deficiencies get exposed. The situation is exacerbated tonight because Solskjaer could be without three of his preferred back four. It is not an ideal situation for even the experienced Raphael Varane, who is still coming to terms with his new club.
The use of Fred and Scott McTominay in a midfield defensive axis suits neither player. Both are more effective further up the pitch.
This is not a crisis. It is United’s new normal. Anyone who hopes that the team will suddenly click is delusional. The third anniversary of Solskjaer’s appointment is around the corner. The Glazers may be happy to circle in a holding pattern of qualifying for the Champions League each season but Old Trafford tradition demands more.
The reality is that United are an apology for a well-run club. The players are good enough to win; the men who lead them are not.
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