FIVE ASIDES
Europa League, quarter-final, first leg: Lyon 2, United 2
Oh, André Onana, what have you done? First you needlessly enrage a distinguished figure from United’s recent past, Nemanja Matic. Then you let in a soft goal, flapping at a free kick as it bounces over you like a Dad deliberately letting a beach ball go past him. Finally, in Fergie time, you somehow convert a straightforward save into an assist for Lyon’s best player, Rayan Cherki. And so what should have been a resounding victory turns into a disappointing draw, leaving the pressure on United to win next week. Opta gives them a 63pc chance of doing so, but that really should have been 80.
After a season to forget for Onana, it’s surely time Altay Bayindir was given another go. For what it’s worth, I picked him on the MEN line-up page for this game, to get him in the groove before the second leg. (Mind you, it wasn’t a very realistic team: it had a back four.) Onana’s clangers have made it more likely that the tie will end up going to penalties, and after his heroics at Arsenal Bayindir has earned the dubious honour to try and keep them out again. It was noticeable that Ruben Amorim didn’t spring to Onana’s defence, so it looks as if he is on the way out in the summer if not before.
Ahead of the game, United posted their squad on Twitter. It contained ten defenders and three forwards. So they got what their selection deserved. The starting XI were unchanged, for the first time under Amorim, but they weren’t unchained.
By the end United had only one forward on the field. That was Joshua Zirkzee, sent on as part of his regular job share with Rasmus Højlund. The ploy worked, in that Zirkzee scored – and not just any old goal but a striker’s goal, headed in at the far post, after good work by Kobbie Mainoo (alert enough, on his return from two months out, to nod a loose ball forward) and Bruno Fernandes (energetic enough, after 88 minutes and two changes of position, to send in a gorgeous back-spun cross). But the ploy also backfired, in that United failed to see out the last seven minutes, with Lyon throwing players forward and Patrick Dorgu not having the know-how to keep them penned in near the corner flag. United’s players could be forgiven for being confused: Ruben Amorim was waving his arms to urge them forward, even though his selection seemed to be saying safety first.
So the pattern of this season persists. Not good enough in the Premier League, just good enough in the Europa. Thank God for Leny Yoro, who was even more switched-on than Mainoo as he instinctively flicked his forehead and made sense of Manuel Ugarte’s speculative volley. Thank God for Fernandes, still collecting assists even if his scoring streak seems to have dried up. And thank God for Alexandre Lacazette, who came on as a sub and blew a big chance as if it was 2017-18 all over again.
Tim de Lisle is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter for The Guardian. He’s been supporting United since the days when the gaffe-prone goalie was Mark Bosnich.