Article 82 — United Climbs Into 3rd (Just About), Inter Drops To 3rd
Where do I start……..Ok for starters, United played before Inter again on the same day. In terms of importance, United’s match held greater importance as they were facing two “finals” to get into the Champions League next season and this is the first of those “finals”. Inter had already crossed that bridge and it was unlikely we will catch Juventus at the top of Serie A. I didn’t get the sense that the Inter camp really believed in overtaking Juventus anyways.
These were how the matches went:
On paper, United have got the easiest run-in compared to Chelsea and Leicester City. We should beat West Ham United and capitalise on Leicester’s defeat over Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday to take a three-point lead over them. With Chelsea facing champions, Liverpool on the day of the coronation for the champions, a United win or draw would also see us go third.
I remember the previous encounter against West Ham at the Olympic Stadium. It was one of our worst performances of the season. We were heading into this match after losing our 19 matches unbeaten run and elimination from the FA Cup. It would be a test of this United team’s mentality on how they respond to that setback in a crucial match, crucial for our future ambitions and plans.
We started the game aggressively, pinning West Ham back into their half. There were a strong desire and determination in the team to put right the wrongs of the previous match. We had some early shots on goal but were up against a stubborn defence, bodies on the line of a team managed by the unfortunate man chosen to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes. As the half wore on and we failed to break the deadlock, our passing got casual and the speed in our play decreased. West Ham weathered the storm and got into the game but offered little.
As luck would have it, West Ham created their own good fortune when a thunderbolt from Declan Rice was handled in the box by Paul Pogba. I can’t blame him for that because the shot came at a ferocious pace and he was only protecting himself by bringing his hands up to his face. The law is the law though and West Ham got a penalty that was converted by their man on fire, Michail Antonio.
In the second half, United didn’t exactly start the game as we expected with intensity and pace but we got the equaliser thanks to nice, neat interplay between Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood. Greenwood showed good feet and razor-sharp instincts to get us level in the game. I thought that would be the cue to an onslaught on the West Ham goal as we looked to score more and win the game. The opposite happened instead. West Ham had the better of the half as we struggled to get our passing going or get any sort of intensity into our play.
Our players looked knackered. I felt Nemanja Matic and Harry Maguire were colossal in ensuring we ended the game with a point which meant we did not only leapfrog Leicester, we leapfrogged Chelsea too to go into third place with a tired, below-par performance. Chelsea lost to Liverpool in an entertaining match. For West Ham, the point meant more as it ensured their survival in the Premier League and they were good value for it.
Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba both were out of sorts. Rashford found it tough to get past Manchester United legend, Paul Parker’s nephew, Ben Johnson. Pogba looked tired as the match wore on. Even Greenwood, goal aside didn’t have a good game. Anthony Martial and Bruno Fernandes were trying hard until the end but the supporting cast let them down. Again I was left perplexed at Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s reluctance in freshening the team with substitutions.
It looks at the moment that the starting eleven that he has chosen consistently aside since football resumed, he is increasingly losing faith with the rest of the squad. Playing so many matches in quick succession requires the full use of the squad. If the players on the bench are not getting involved, they will get rusty and would start feeling detached from the project. I don’t feel we have players that are of poor quality on the bench, well not everyone is. There are players that are just not in-form. Maybe they might not be in good enough form to start the game but they can surely come on and lend a helping hand. It took Solksjaer 80 odd minutes to make his second and final substitution of the game at a time when we have long been hanging on in the game. It was clear to all watching which players were not on their game and which players were tired. We needed at least one more goal to be safe so it was very risky to play for a draw.
I felt that the strategy was to score early and wrap up the game and then introduce the substitutes. While a point is enough to see us get into a Champions League position, it is safer to get three points. The three points were also vital for confidence after a poor performance against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final. United fans also demand that we win in style so anything less leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
The tired performance reminded me of the way we somehow made it across the line in the 2006–07 season. The only difference was that in that season, we ended it as champions and not just Champions League qualifiers. I am not sure what Solksjaer would do in terms of his selection for the crucial Leicester game. We cannot go into it thinking of holding out for a draw because Leicester will be desperate to win it. I doubt Solksjaer will veer too much from the tried and tested team that he has picked either. It’s on the management team to assess the condition of the players and select the ones that will be best placed to get us the win. Making too many changes can be detrimental too so the right decisions need to be made to beat Leicester.
Over at Milan, Inter played out a goalless draw at home against Fiorentina. As a result, they slipped to third place, one point behind Atalanta. I watched the highlights of the game and it is incredible how we didn’t manage to score any. We hit the woodwork twice through Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez and Fiorentina’s stand-in goalkeeper, Pietro Terracciano turned in a Superman performance to keep us out.
For all our attacks, we risked letting in a goal ourselves. Thankfully, Samir Handanovic, who has been under-fire, saved us from conceding. It’s nice to keep a second clean sheet in three games which is a positive from this match. I feel with Champions League qualification settled, Antonio Conte would look to play out the remaining matches and get as good a result as possible. He would also be aiming to finish as high as possible. I feel it is good practice to not pull the handbrake and keep going, it would be good for building a strong mentality. It would also be good to create some positive momentum going into the Europa League match against Getafe.
For the remaining matches, it would be nice if we could see a midfield trio of Marcelo Brozovic, Nicolo Barella and Christian Eriksen. Hopefully, we can get Stefano Sensi back too and Lautaro Martinez can rediscover his form. Hopefully, we can start getting our groove going again and the goals flowing like it did in the first half of the season.
