Manchester United approached their midweek Champions League match full of confidence after securing a hard fought win over Watford over the weekend to go top momentarily. At the end of the latest round of fixtures in the English Premier League, United were second, one point off the top which is a good position to be in as the season heads into its busiest, most testing period. United needed a win against PSV Eindhoven to go top of their Champions League group and secure progress to the knockout stages of the competition.
To be frank, in all the matches United have played this season in Europe, they have made heavy weather of it. They could and should have sealed their progress sooner. The results have been a reflection of their performances and it is only fair then that progression to the knockout stages hasn't been secured yet. Football is based on results and not ifs and buts. United started the match with a youthful and exuberant-looking attack, Memphis Depay, Jesse Lingard on the wings, and Anthony Martial up front. Wayne Rooney was the only senior member of the attack playing just behind Martial. United started bright enough, pressing PSV high enough to win the ball and quickly launch attacks, looking to get in behind the PSV defence as quickly as possible.
Rooney came close to meeting a Matteo Darmian cross, Bastian Schweinsteiger had a rather tame shot from distance at goal, Memphis had two shots from distance, Morgan Schneiderlin had an effort saved at close range albeit having not had a strong connection with the ball, Martial had a great chance to give United the lead when the ball fell fortuitously to him but his effort was saved and he had a shot saved at the near post just before the half time. PSV looked to hit United on the counter and had some shots from distance saved. In the second half, Schneiderlin had a header that went over and Lingard headed a cross from Martial wide. Lingard had another great chance later in the game but blazed his effort over when in good position. As the half wore on, PSV grew in terms of possession and authority as United lost their way to end the match tepidly.
Honestly, if United had taken at least one of their chances especially in the first half, the game would have turned out very differently and so would everyone's opinion on their performance. The manner with which they ended the match was very disappointing and that has attracted the usual criticism whenever Louis Van Gaal's United drops points. In the second half, I feel not only was there a lack of composure in keeping possession and patience in increasing the intensity of their attacks, it felt like there was a distinct lack of fitness as well. Schneiderlin and Rooney looked especially tired. Memphis was kept quiet, Martial and Lingard lost their way in the second half like the rest of the team. Rooney was again not influential. Ashley Young was brought on as a substitute but he had little impact. Marouane Fellaini was brought on for Schweinsteiger and he too had little impact. Fellaini isn't useful when he is brought on to replace one of the two central midfielders. He is more of a threat when he plays off the striker. Van Gaal did swap him with Rooney and yet he had no impact on the match. Juan Mata was introduced too late in the game to make any telling contribution.
Van Gaal sounded perplexed that his changes had no impact on the pattern of the match. It is disappointing to see the way United just fell apart seemingly due to lack of fitness. It looked like it. Roy Keane pointed it out in his post-match analysis and I got to agree with him on this. The atmosphere at Old Trafford was also rather subdued throughout the night. There were some discontentment and whistles that could be heard at the final whistle. I struggle to name a single United player that did well. The most impressive players were PSV players, Santiago Arias, Andres Guardado and Jeffrey Bruma. Chris Smalling, David De Gea and Daley Blind were probably our best players. Smalling has been great since the back end of last season but he can certainly improve his distribution of the ball coming out of defence. I feel more can be expected from Blind as well as he is the best distributor of the ball among all the centre backs we have. I hope Michael Carrick is fit enough to start against Leicester City so that the centre midfield partnership can be rotated. United got to try and play the ball forward faster from centre midfield and Carrick can help in that aspect.
In attack, Rooney has not been pulling his weight as captain and as a leader. He has been poor and I don't feel it has anything to do with the more measured style of play United are playing under Van Gaal. He has not looked sharp and fit. Keane was right to criticise him after the the draw against PSV. The others in attack, Lingard, Memphis and Martial are youngsters. They are still developing and it is unfair to expect wonders from them week in, week out. Nostalgia plays tricks with peoples' mind. Cast your mind back to when United newly signed Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. United went 3 seasons without winning the title, the team was in the shadows of Arsenal first and then Chelsea, people were calling for the head of Sir Alex Ferguson, saying that he was over-the-hill but the reality was that the team was in transition and it did come good eventually. Regardless of how much the club has spent over 2 summers, the team is still in transition. I am not sure if they will come good again eventually but as fans, we got to be patient and have faith. The frustration we get from watching Memphis is like what we, as fans had experienced when Ronaldo had newly joined the club. I am not sure if Memphis will develop to be a world beater like Ronaldo. That will depend on the player himself but let's have some patience with him, Lingard and Martial. It is unfair as well to place the burden of scoring entirely on the shoulders of Martial. There's another youngster, Anders Pereira who hasn't played much but has a lot of potential too.
The senior players like Rooney, Schweinsteiger and Carrick would need to start pulling their weight and influencing matters consistently and at a higher level than what they are producing now. Schweinsteiger and Carrick have performed at a decent level but can do better especially in terms of influencing play. Rooney, on the other hand, has been unbelievably poor. He looks like a player that is on the downturn of his career. Rewind back to 1995-96 and you might remember Eric Cantona leading a group of youngsters to an unlikely Double. If United are to be even half as successful as that season, Rooney has to step up or Van Gaal has to have the courage to drop him and adapt. The decision to sell Javier Hernandez is coming back to haunt us now because he would have been a very valid alternative to Rooney and it would have avoided putting too much pressure on Martial. If only, more faith had been shown for the Mexican. What Sir Alex achieved with a young team in 1995-96 or what Van Gaal achieved with a young Ajax team between the same years may never be repeated in modern football but for this United to stand a chance to come close to those achievements, the senior players have to pull their weight and lead by example.
I feel that the fruit of Van Gaal's work now would benefit his successor rather than him. The team would mature by then and would be out of transition. In the here and now, it is not too bad that United are second in the English Premier League, one point behind the leaders Leicester City who United would face next. Qualification to the Champions League is still within United's hands. It is not that bad at all but I agree it can be better. However, be patient and have faith that's the only way forward. In good time and bad, we got to stand by the team.
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