FIVE ASIDES Champions League: United 0, Bayern Munich 1
When you’re on the brink, you really don’t want to die wondering. And that’s exactly what United did. They died wondering why they had scraped only four points from six games. They died wondering how they had turned leads into losses against lesser teams than Bayern. They died wondering why they hadn’t gone hell for leather in this game. They died wondering how Bayern had been able to slice though them with one classy flick from Harry Kane. They died wondering how they’d managed to die when they were not even in the group of death.
Erik ten Hag said the performance was ‘very good’. It was his most ill-advised remark since he pilloried Jadon Sancho in public, three long months ago. It would be more accurate to say that the performance had gone from abysmal to mediocre. United were compact and competitive, more of a team, but less of a threat. They were set up to stay in the game rather than to win it. The meek may inherit the earth, but they don’t tend to win the big trophies. And while United were unlucky to lose Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw to injury, it didn’t make all the difference. Their replacements, Jonny Evans and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, slotted straight in and Rapha Varane, abruptly recalled from his perplexing exile, was strolling around as if he’d never been away. The failure came up front, where a wild shot by Antony was the only attempt on goal from the forwards, and Bruno Fernandes, who had three of United’s other four shots, missed with them all. Bayern’s expected goals were modest (1.2), yet still four times United’s (0.3).
We hadn’t seriously expected United to be the first team to beat Bayern in 40 Champions League group games. But we did expect them to give it a go and emerge with their heads held high. If they couldn’t pull off an upset, they should at least have been able to secure a draw, which would have done something for their self-belief. The problem is that United have eliminated the type of draw that used to be routine – a 0-0 or a 1-1. They have drawn one game all season, the 3-3 at Galatasaray. They win some, they lose more. In all competitions in 2023-24 now it’s won 11, lost 12. If these guys were your flatmates, you wouldn’t trust them to lock the front door. They have lost as many times in four months as they did in the whole of 2022-23. Ten Hag’s win percentage has plunged from 66 last season to 46 this season in all comps, and from 75 to 25 in the cups. He’s in danger of turning into Ralf Rangnick without the doggedness.
It was a clear mistake to have no firepower on the bench. Even with all the injuries, Ten Hag could have started one more midfielder (Kobbie Mainoo to keep hold of the ball, or Hannibal to win it back) and saved one of the wingers (Antony or Alejandro Garnacho) for when the Bayern full-backs were tiring. He could have given Joe Hugill, the only spare striker available, some minutes in the league to prepare him for an outing here, instead of sticking him on the bench and ignoring him. There was a sharp contrast with Man City’s game the next night, in which Pep Guardiola backed a few kids and saw them score the first two goals. Yes, City had already qualified, but that just meant that Pep had earned the right.
If this game wasn’t a disaster, the Champions League campaign as a whole was. And so was losing to Bournemouth, because it was United’s best chance of a win in Advent. It leaves United needing to win this Sunday at Anfield, which is a 20pc chance if you go by Opta’s algorithm and about a 2pc chance if you use your common sense. They will be going to Liverpool with a weaker defence than the one that was blown away in the 7-0 battering nine months ago. The back four then was Dalot, Varane, Martinez and Shaw. This weekend it looks like being Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Evans, and Dalot or Reguilon. Only Wan-Bissaka is an upgrade, and he plays on the side most of Liverpool’s goals don’t come from. Ten Hag, whose record in big away games is atrocious, surely needs to do something different. One option is to pack the midfield in a 4-3-1-2 (it only takes two forwards to score on the counter, as Marcus Rashford and Dan James showed against Liverpool in October 2019). Another is to switch to a back three (adding Victor Lindelof or even Scott McTominay, who has played there many times for Scotland). If United stick to plan A, Mo Salah, who has ten goals in his last five games against them, won’t be able to believe his luck.
Tim de Lisle, a United fan since before the Champions League began, is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter at The Guardian. If you’re on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing.