United went into last night’s game against Bayern Munich widely expected to be not only beaten but thoroughly humiliated, given the gulf in quality between the two sides. After a plucky effort, however, United remain in the tie and while a 1-1 draw places Bayern in the driving seat, it’s a lot better than what many of us would have expected.
Here’s five things we have learnt last night.
1) United are fully Evertonised
When David Moyes was unveiled as Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor one of the main question marks over his appointment was whether he’d be able to abandon his “David vs Goliath” approach and get his team to play attractive football, rather than simply try to stifle other teams’ attacking instincts.
Having known the answer for almost eight months, last night we had laid it in front of our very eyes. United did not attempt to go at Bayern, preferring instead to defend incredibly deep and bypass the midfield with a barrage of long balls for Welbeck and Rooney to feed onto.
While Inter Milan and Chelsea have won the Champions League by adopting the same approach and, given the plethora of opportunities at Pep Guardiola’s disposal, going toe-to-toe with the Bavarians would have probably been self-destructive, the thought of United willing relinquishing any sort of initiative was hard to take.
Of course, it wasn’t the first time United’s rearguard had resembled a trench, but it wasn’t a coincidence that Moyes got his tactics spot on for the first time this season in a game his team approached as the underdogs: this had Everton vs a top four side written all over it.
2) Defence is the best form of attack
Or so it seemed last night, as United defended with dogged resilience and limited Bayern to only three clear chances. On two of those chances Arjen Robben was denied – first by David De Gea’s save, then by his own right foot – while the other led to Bastian Schweinsteiger’s equaliser.
Defensive though Moyes’ approach was, Phil Jones, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and even Alex Buttner deserve credit for keeping their composure and focus throughout the game and keeping the likes of Robben, Franck Ribery and Thomas Muller at bay.
Even Buttner, who many expected to be the weak link in United’s back four, did reasonably well for a player of his – rather limited – talent, while Ferdinand and Vidic might be a fading force, but on their night they’re still capable of producing the sort of performance we had come accustomed to a couple of years ago.
3) Marouane Fellaini just isn’t good enough
Moyes’ decision to start Fellaini was bizarre, given the Belgian had gone missing in all the big games he had featured in this season before last night and that he lacks the physical attributes needed to cope with a midfield such as Bayern’s, whose foundations are built on a combination of quick, sharp, passes.
With United’s midfield already desperately lacking dynamism, a luxury neither Michael Carrick nor Ryan Giggs have that in their locker, deploying Fellaini alongside them was asking for troubles.
Troubles duly arrived, as Mr £27m showed yet again he remains hopelessly out of his depth at this level. Too casual in possession, useless when it came to keep pace with the deluge of one-two passes Bayern’s midfielders knitted around him for the whole game, Fellaini wasn’t even able to impose his size in the box and was repeatedly beaten to headers by players smaller than him.
That he forgot to track Schweinsteiger’s run just before Bayern’s equaliser surprised absolutely no one. Those £27m have been well and truly flushed down the bog.
4) Oh Danny boy
Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first. Danny Welbeck should have leathered the ball past Manuel Neuer, rather than attempt a cheeky chip over the Bayern keeper and United might well live to regret that missed chance.
That, however, was the only thing that Welbeck could be criticised for last night. He stretched Bayern’s defence like none of our other players did, he had a goal unjustly ruled out, he ran himself into the ground to help his team defensively and, most importantly, he didn’t shy away from his responsibilities.
On a night when United midfielders looked scared of even looking at the ball, Danny demanded it and looked menacing throughout the game. In a season of bad news, Welbeck’s development has been an extremely positive note.
5) We’ll miss these nights
You know United fans have been great this season, when we receive widespread praise in the media for the atmosphere we generate at Old Trafford. We’ve often been rightly criticised for the lack of atmosphere that has characterised our games at home in the last decade, but the fans have stood up admirably this season.
The games against Olympiakos and Bayern Munich were a great reminder of what Old Trafford is like on big European nights when the fans get behind the players and roar them on and the supporters were superb again last night. The noise and real sense of occasion were only enhanced by the sight of United finally putting a solid shift this season.
Unfortunately, last night also highlighted how much we’re going to miss this sort of occasions, for there’s absolutely nothing that guarantees that United will be back in the Champions League in the 2015-16 season.
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