A rare case of not being complacent enough
Talking points from a comfortable night at Old Trafford, including a curious selection and an eventful 45 minutes for captain Pogba
FIVE ASIDES, Europa League quarter-final: United 2 Granada 0 (agg 4-0)
There’s no such thing as an easy game, players and managers love to tell us. Well, we now have an answer to that: ‘Hang on – what about Granada in the Europa League?’ In these two matches, United had more trouble from the refs than from the opposition. Granada were a little less tentative at Old Trafford, but only when they were 3-0 down on aggregate, and their finishing was so feeble that they never stretched United’s reserve goalie, some guy called de Gea. They looked every bit the plucky second-division team that they were two years ago. Roma, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Edin Dzeko and maybe Chris Smalling, will be a stiffer test.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s selection was a strange one, which left you wondering what Donny van de Beek has done to deserve this. With most of the changes enforced by suspensions, it looked like a rare case of a manager not being complacent enough. But Solskjaer did get several decisions right, starting with the captaincy. Handing it to Paul Pogba was a shrewd bit of man-management, keeping him involved, rewarding him for his excellence at Spurs, and making sure he was fired up for this small occasion. He was a little too fired up for the ref’s taste, but his back-headed assist for Cavani’s opener was a stroke of genius, and may have even ousted Amad’s goal against Milan as United’s back-header of the season. Solskjaer, reacting to Pogba’s yellow card as he had infamously failed to with Fred’s against PSG, sent van de Beek on at half-time, giving him enough scope, for once, to show his tidy touches and intelligent runs. There was even a cameo, and a Beek-like invisible assist, for Juan Mata, who, as usual, came bearing artistry and a broad smile. By the end United had nine or ten reserves on the field – everyone bar Lindelof and arguably Fred – and they were still in control.
“Tuanzebe was back to his commanding best, showing that he treats £180m superstars and £5m bargain-bin teams just the same”
Harry Maguire often seems hell-bent on proving that United can’t do without him. He has played every single minute of the Premier League season, all 2,790 of them (plus stoppage time). But here, with Maguire suspended for one match, United coped without him comfortably. Victor Lindelof stepped into his shoes, moving one slot to his left and doing a lot of shouting. To his right, Axel Tuanzebe was back to his commanding best for the first time since the Parc des Princes in October, showing that he treats £199m superstars and £5m bargain-binners just the same. Aaron Wan-Bissaka was markedly more adventurous than usual, and even played one chip in-field that verged on the reckless (let’s hope it doesn’t send him back into his shell). And Alex Telles had a hand, or a cross, in both the goals. The only way the defence could have gone better was if Solskjaer had given Will Fish a taste of the limelight.
Nobody is indispensable, not even Bruno Fernandes. He should surely have been given more than 20 minutes’ rest. He has the classiest of deputies in van de Beek and Mata, not to mention Jesse Lingard, the player of the last few weeks in the Premier League. But Fernandes loves to play and Solskjaer seems willing to let him dictate his own workload. After a sensational year, he has come down to earth with what, by his standards, counts as a drought – only two goals in 12 games since the stalemate at home to Real Sociedad, and both of them penalties. But he has still played his part. He always brings intensity, he often makes space for Pogba and Cavani, and the team are playing better than they were when Fernandes and Marcus Rashford were doing it by themselves.
Now United just need to do one thing. Win a sodding semi-final.