A REUNION WITH Bayern Munich always threatened another outbreak of nostalgia around Manchester United, and tonight Casemiro even staged his own interpretation of ’99 with two late goals.
But this time the goals merely buffed the result: Bayern Munich have grounds to sue that 4-3 scoreline for damages. It was against Bayern in 1999, of course, that United cashed in their essential resolve for the greatest prize of all, but their once-trademark spirit has long-since dissipated.
A late rally should not mask United’s alarming fragilities. That they scored the late goals to potentially claw back a point while also finding time to concede a fourth goal to ensure defeat says much about their true state. United conceded the first two goals within four first-half minutes after a genuinely good start, and then conceded four minutes after scoring each of their own first two goals.
Thomas Tuchel – missing tonight because of a vestigial touchline ban – yesterday praised United’s ability to “suffer” off the ball, but no side in Europe is so averse to suffering as this Manchester United team. These are a group of players who would struggle if they were told they had to give up Christmas cake for Lent.
Tonight was the third game in a row in which Manchester United conceded at least three goals in a game – the first time that has happened since 1978 – and the parallels with Saturday’s loss to Brighton were eerie.
Just as they did on Saturday, United started brightly, with their pressing structure out of possession disrupting Bayern’s rhythm. And they might have taken an early lead had they not been reliant on the callow Facundo Pellistri amid their lack of right-sided attackers. The Uruguayan was making only his second start for United, but Erik ten Hag talked him up ahead of the game by claiming his opposite number Alphonso Davies “isn’t a great defender.” Cue a stunning last-ditch block by Davies to prevent Pellistri from tapping in at the back post after a couple of minutes.
But just as against Brighton, the success of United’s curated and well-drilled start was shattered with the opposition’s first proper attack. Whereas United were carved open by some DeZerbiball at the weekend, this was a David De Gea-style clanger from Andre Onana, weakly letting Leroy Sane’s shot through his grasp.
Worse than the moment was United’s reaction to it. Their structure melted in the face of Bayern’s best spell of possession, during which their midfield frailties were painfully exposed. Christian Eriksen and Casemiro lost a succession of midfield duels before Jamal Musiala slipped easily away from Casemiro, leaving him trailing in his wake like ticker tape caught in the wind. Musiala slalomed to the end-line and pulled the ball back to the completely unmarked Serge Gnabry, who slammed the ball in. Eriksen couldn’t get back in time to put Gnabry under any sort of pressure, and was instead left dawdling behind him, watching from the same position as he saw Martin Odegaard equalise at the Emirates Stadium a couple of weeks ago.
That Odegaard goal set a trend of United conceding shortly after scoring themselves. Rasmus Hojlund’s hooked finish halved the deficit for all of four minutes, at which point Harry Kane blasted a penalty beyond Onana. Eriksen was harshly punished under the increasingly daft handball law, but the move began with his being dispossessed much too easily in midfield.
United’s ability to lose on both the swings and the roundabouts might be alleviated with a beefed-up midfield, which is currently ageing like milk in the sun. The presence of Hojlund and Kane on the same pitch was a reminder of United’s new-found policy to buy younger players: what a pity they didn’t apply it to their midfield recruitment a year ago. Casemiro and Eriksen simply lost too many challenges tonight, left too much space through which Bayern could run, and then didn’t have the energy to track midfield runners. Perhaps the rock upon which last season’s progress was built was…Fred?
The endgame was bizarre, with Bayern lulled into a false sense of security by the scale of their own dominance. Tuchel’s touchline ban sadly denied us his frenzies at Bayern’s closing out the game with the intensity of a pre-season friendly.
Bayern were nowhere near their best, and while United have been denuded by injury, perhaps the most worrying aspect of this current run of form is that there have been spells in games in which they have genuinely played well. Yet they continue to find ways to lose games.
It is the challenge of ten Hag’s career to lift from Old Trafford this latest spell of deadening gloom.