Drawing all the way to the Conference League
A team who used to draw only very occasionally, and with clubs above them, now keep doing it against teams they ought to be able to beat
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: United 1, Burnley 1
If the first seven months of this season had a redeeming feature, it was that United hardly ever drew. They lost far too many games (11 of the first 28 in the league) but won nearly all the rest – 15 out of the other 17 before the international break in March. The only draws were respectable efforts against teams above them in the table, Liverpool and Spurs. Since then United have played six league games and drawn four of them, as well as going down to a defeat (at Chelsea) that should have been a win. They have drawn against Brentford and Bournemouth and Burnley. Not to mention Liverpool again, and Coventry in the cup. They have gone from drawing two league games out of 28 to drawing two out of every three. They have dropped nine points from winning positions. They have faffed about like a team in mid-table.
Champions League? Who were they kidding? They haven’t been in the top five all season, let alone the top four. This flurry of draws in the past month has killed off United’s hopes of edging Spurs out of the top five, and now it threatens their chances of hanging onto sixth place, which is the difference between the the Europa League and the Conference League (unless United manage an upset against City at Wembley). Since 30 March, they have allowed Newcastle to gain six points on them in six games. Newcastle haven’t even had to be that good, except against Spurs: during this run they lost at Palace and drew at home to Everton. It’s as if a curse was put on United at the international break, when Gareth Southgate abandoned his loyalty to Marcus Rashford (who had been perfectly OK for England) in favour of Anthony Gordon.
Against Burnley, there were two main culprits. André Onana was both hero and villain, making one great save before showing that he had learnt nothing from his let-off against Wolves on the opening day by again clattering into an opponent as he came out for a cross and missed. After the mess he made passing out from the back against Sheffield United, it was Onana’s second howler in four days. The other guilty man was Erik ten Hag. There are times when it’s right to stick with a winning team and this was not one of them, because it was United’s third game in a week and the first had been a marathon. Pep, Fergie or any other top manager would have rotated, but Ten Hag showed yet again how stubborn he can be with his selection.
The upshot was that United were willing but short of sharpness, scoring with only one of their 28 shots. That was a fine finish by Antony – credit where it’s due, after making us wait all season for a league goal, he at least ensured it was a big one. But Alejandro Garnacho was wasteful and Rasmus Højlund, rather than being transformed by one goal as he was after grabbing the winner against Villa, went back to being a lost boy. He completed only three passes in 64 minutes even though he kept coming deep: his average position, on the centre circle, was behind Bruno Fernandes and only just ahead of Christian Eriksen.
United now simply have to beat Newcastle on 15 May, and even that may not be enough to save them. On present form Newcastle may well win all their other three games (Burnley away, Brighton home, Brentford away), while United could easily carry on drawing at Palace and lose to title-chasing Arsenal before (you’d hope) beating Brighton, who have faded so badly that they are now only the second-best team on the south coast. Mind you, Brighton get a lot of home draws …
Tim de Lisle is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter for The Guardian.