Hope and fear for Manchester United before Champions League showdown
For Manchester United, the week had started with an apology – the abject performance in the 1-0 Premier League defeat at Newcastle. And it finished with another one, more literal this time, served up by the captain, Bruno Fernandes, after the 3-0 home loss against Bournemouth on Saturday.
In between times, there was the 2-1 victory against Chelsea at Old Trafford, which was lauded in some quarters as the best display of the season, even if there were still holes in it – specifically the one in front of the back four to defend the counterattack and the lack of ruthlessness in the final third.
You want salacious detail? United have got that covered. How about the manager, Erik ten Hag, rowing with the striker Anthony Martial during the Newcastle game? Everybody saw that. Then came the reports that Ten Hag had lost the confidence of some of his players, which led to the club banning four media outlets from the pre-Chelsea press conference – a strong move but rarely a strong look.
What has happened to Marcus Rashford, the hero of last season, who is back in 2021-22 lost soul territory and out of the starting lineup? What is going on with Raphaël Varane, who has not kicked a ball over the past month? It would actually be quicker to mention the big United names who are not embroiled in a personal melodrama.
Martial was dropped after Newcastle for Chelsea, reinstated for Bournemouth, then booed off when he was substituted. Old Trafford booed some more at the full-time whistle. “[I want] to apologise,” Fernandes said. “The performance was not acceptable, starting on me.”
The emblem of United’s high and lows, the magnifier of them, Fernandes got himself booked for dissent in the 84th minute at 3-0 down and is suspended for Sunday’s trip to Liverpool.
It was certainly a wild week and yet there is the sense that it is the norm under Ten Hag these days, hope and frustration locked in an endless struggle. The week before had started with Alejandro Garnacho’s overhead kick in the 3-0 win at Everton – a game embossed by Kobbie Mainoo’s extraordinary full league debut. Martial scored that day and so did Rashford, after Fernandes had handed him the ball for a penalty. Then came the 3-3 draw at Galatasaray, a result that has imperilled United’s Champions League progress. And then Newcastle.
It has long since passed the point where fans do not know which United will turn up and it is not stretching the point to say that it can extend from one period to the next within matches. The club’s Champions League group phase campaign, which will be decided against Bayern Munich at Old Trafford on Tuesday night, has been shaped by the tendency to fall apart at the first sign of turbulence.
It is ridiculous to remind ourselves that United led twice against Galatasaray at home and Copenhagen away only to lose on both occasions; that they led twice by two goals at Galatasaray only to draw. The one time they have held a lead was against Copenhagen at home and even then they needed a stoppage-time André Onana penalty save to preserve the 1-0.
Another statistic that damns them is the one which shows they have scored three times in each away tie and taken just one point. Only Antwerp have conceded more goals in this season’s Champions League than
United’s 14.
It is entirely on-brand with how United have gone about their business that there remains a chance they could squeak through to the last 16, even though they would have to do more than beat Bayern. The other tie between Copenhagen and Galatasaray would have to end in a draw, which is the only result that neither of them would want at the outset. In other words, they will not be playing for it, which surely decreases the chance of it happening.
Even more characteristic, perhaps, is the way that United genuinely seem to think they can pull it off – or at least, their part of the deal. What gives them this belief, Ten Hag was asked? “The game against Chelsea, the game against
Everton, even the [away] game against Galatasaray,” he replied. “I know this team can perform at really high levels. It’s not that we did it three months ago – we did it last week. I know we can do it when we have the right mood, the right spirit. It starts with the right attitude. If everyone is ready for it we are able to do it.”
Ten Hag is under huge pressure, and not only because Sir Jim Ratcliffe is poised to take a 25% stake in United and control of the sporting side of the operation. Ratcliffe will surely prioritise an overhaul of the recruitment department; he could yet look at Ten Hag’s position.
The issues continue to pound at the manager’s temples – the violent lurches from the good to the bad and the ugly, the game management, how his team can be so easy to play through. United have fired only in fits and starts.
And yet Bayern, no strangers to hyperbole and high drama, arrive in crisis. Well, every defeat for them is treated as such and Saturday’s 5-1 humbling at Eintracht Frankfurt fitted the bill. Never mind that it was their first defeat of the Bundesliga season. They lag four points behind the leaders, Bayer Leverkusen, albeit with a game in hand. They lost the German Super Cup. They are out of the DFB-Pokal.
United wonder why they should not be able to follow Eintracht and beat Bayern. Moreover, Thomas Tuchel’s team have already guaranteed their Champions League progress as group winners. Will they have the needed edge at Old Trafford?
On the other hand, a reaction will be demanded of Bayern and Tuchel could not have been any clearer at his prematch press conference that he expects one. “When we wear the Bayern shirt, we behave like champions otherwise we cannot be champions,” he said. So what to expect? With United, it is the hope that drives them. And often kills.