Thursday 3 April 2014
Why United have a chance against Bayern
Can United get past Bayern? The smart money would say no, yet one fact stands in their favour: The dire recent record of German sides - including Bayern - at home to English teams.
This season, Bayern have already lost at home to Manchester City and drawn with Arsenal, while United beat Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 away, Chelsea defeated Schalke 3-0 and Arsenal came away from the cauldron of Dortmund's Westfalenstadion with a 1-0 win, just a fortnight after losing the return fixture in London 2-1.
Nor does the German winless run stop at six. Last year, Bayern romped to a 3-1 win away to Arsenal, yet found themselves nervously hanging on for an away goals win after losing 2-0 at home. Before that, they drew 1-1 but lost on penalties to Chelsea when their own Allianz Arena stadium hosted the 2012 Champions League final.
Given that Bayern's last three trips to England had brought victory, maybe United have good reason for optimism. After all, that gave the Bavarians a cushion to fall back on that they will not have this time. Defeat and elimination for the European champions is not likely, but it is far from the impossibility anticipated just a few days ago.
5 things we have learnt from United vs Bayern
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.
Why United Should Not Pursue Ilkay Gundogan
Why United Should Not Pursue Ilkay Gundogan http://t.co/5kmawdT2SP
— MUFCtweets (@MUFCtweetsBlog) April 3, 2014
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