Despite their declining fortunes, Manchester United still haven’t lost the power to make elite opponents nervous. The big question is: why?
As was the case against Paris Saint-Germain in Manchester United’s last Champions League game, it was again clear tonight that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side cause their opponents to look jittery. But why this should be happening isn’t immediately obvious.
United progressed to this quarterfinal due to inexplicable errors first by PSG’s Thilo Kehrer and then from Gigi Buffon, one of the most decorated, experienced and revered goalkeepers in the history of the game.
And again here, Barcelona’s stars at times looked like nervous schoolboys, committing a series of rudimentary mistakes. Credit must first be given for things that United did well in both games, of course.
As against PSG, Solskjaer’s team pressed energetically and intelligently high up the pitch, putting pressure on the man with the ball and closing down passing lanes. But as anyone who has watched Barcelona play even intermittently over the previous 10 years knows, this is something they’re both wholly accustomed to and very adept at bypassing.
So some other factors must surely be at play here. It can’t be that opponents are intimidated by United’s lineups in these games, though. A midfield of Fred, Scott McTominay and Dalot wouldn’t strike fear into many Premier League sides, let alone the reigning La Liga champions.
It certainly isn’t down to the intimidating atmosphere created by United fans, either. PSG’s self-destruction occurred in Paris, after all.
And tonight, while there was plenty of noise early in the game, by the quarter-hour mark all that could be heard were the traveling Barcelona supporters. When a free-kick was awarded to the away team a few minutes later, a funereal silence descended upon the stadium.
The only obvious alternative explanation seems to be that in games such as these, Solskjaer is determined to drag his opponents down to United’s level, make the game as scrappy as possible and then hope the big moments go their way.
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that, of course, even if it certainly doesn’t appear to be part of this United Way that we’ve been hearing so much about lately
And it’s doubtful that the club’s fans would — or even should — care about such an approach anyway, given the levels of adrenaline that course through supporters’ veins on big nights like these, which pretty much make boredom an impossibility.
Neutrals can bridle at the mediocrity of it all, but fans understandably tend to be too nervous to care about much aside from the result. For those of us without a vested interest in the outcome, however, the game’s single defining feature was without doubt that mediocrity.
A spectator with no prior knowledge of the teams on display would never have guessed they were watching two of the most expensively assembled sides in the history of the sport.
Yes, United were adept at preventing Barcelona from finding their groove for much of the opening two-thirds of the game, until Barca switched to a 4-4-2 following the introduction of Arturo Vidal and Sergio Roberto, after which United lost all semblance of control.
But when it came to the act of creation rather than prevention, Solskjaer’s side were continually found lacking. Although there were plenty of crosses, the vast majority appeared to be made more in hope than expectation. For almost 40 minutes of the first half, United failed to exert any sustained pressure or create a single chance of note.
Indeed, the only standout moments for United in that entire opening 45 were Chris Smalling brutally clattering into Lionel Messi and Dalot making such a mess of United’s best chance that his header would have gone out for a throw-in, had it not been intercepted by a teammate.
Not to be outdone, Barcelona continually gave the ball away in a manner that often seemed inexplicable, as they repeatedly failed to complete, or even see, straightforward passes.
For whatever reason, then, United are still capable of giving their opponents the jitters. And it seems that this, above all else, is what Solskjaer deserves praise for.
Because although United may have looked sorely lacking in creativity and attacking imagination in these two Champions League rounds, not once have they appeared overawed or frightened. And that must be down to the coach.
The signs are that Solskjaer is a limited manager of a club with almost unlimited resources, and that needn’t be a barrier to success, especially in this tournament. After all, Avram Grant took Chelsea to the final of the Champions League in 2008, and Roberto Di Matteo won it with the same club four years later.
There was much talk in the run-up to this game about Manchester United’s famous victory over Barcelona at Old Trafford back in 1984, when Alex Ferguson’s predecessor Ron Atkinson was the club’s manager.
Atkinson’s United sides never won a league title but were renowned as cup specialists. Unless there’s a dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of both this current United team and of their Premier League rivals, then that could well turn out to be their fate for the immediate future as well.