On Wednesday 29th September Manchester United saw off last season’s Europa League rivals Villarreal to get a vital three points in the Champions League group stages. Here are five things that we learnt.
Ronaldo to the rescue
Overall, this was not Ronaldo’s best game by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t think anyone who calls themself a fan of this football club cared one bit about that. The way that he can come up with match winning goals in crucial moments is unparalleled. You know that having him on the pitch means there is always a goal threat. And in the last minutes of the match there is no one you would rather the ball fall to in that position. The way that he can change a game from nothing and make these half chances into goals is exactly why we brought him back.
Defensively worrying
The first thing I said upon seeing the lineup was that we weren’t keeping a clean sheet. Unfortunately, I was right. Ole didn’t really have much choice in the back four he put out. With Shaw and Maguire injured and Wan-Bissaka suspended there wasn’t really anyone else who would’ve played apart from maybe Eric Bailly. We saw time and again both full-backs being exposed defensively. Both Dalot and Telles were caught out of position or not making tackles multiple times. This lead to the centre-backs having to try and recover or sometimes needing David de Gea to keep us in the game. I think this is why we saw the links with a back up full-back in Trippier over the summer. We saw last night that our reserve full-backs are not good enough, unfortunately.
Something that also didn’t help with this was that our midfield looked all over the place. We finally saw Ole go for the 4-3-3 with McTominay as the 6. Something that a lot of people, myself included, have been asking for a while now. However, it really didn’t work on Wednesday night. There was no real sense of it being a solid base to build an attack from. McTominay didn’t look up to fulfilling all of the defensive duties that come with being that sole defensive midfielder. All of this combined with a bit of a shambolic back four created a bit of a recipe for disaster.
David de Gea keeping us in the game
There were several times throughout the match where David de Gea made some vital saves. It seems that whenever he is being called on this season he is delivering. I don’t think I have ever seen a player with the kind of resurgence in form that David de Gea is having right now. Four or five years ago David de Gea was considered to be one of, if not the, best goalkeeper in the world. For the past two years his form was really poor. Honestly to say he was an average keeper in the league was putting it nicely. He was consistently making blunders and costing United points. However now he is back to having those match winning saves and his form is back on top.
Cavani to start
Edinson Cavani was fantastic when he came off the bench. Despite only being on the pitch for just over 15 minutes he made a massive difference. His relentless pressing and determination was just unreal. There was one moment where he chased down a misplaced pass that looked to be going out for a goal-kick, this helped United keep the pressure on and inevitably lead to the passage of play with Ronaldo’s goal. I’m not entirely sure how Ole fits Cavani in with Ronaldo for the full 90 whilst keeping a balanced team. But ultimately, the outlet that he provides on the pitch cannot be questioned and has to be a feature of United’s XI now that El Matador is back.
Sancho Showing what he is capable of
After what has been a bit of an erratic start for Jadon Sancho there have been questions being thrown at him about whether he will adapt well or fit in the Premier League. With his performance against Villarreal he began to silence some of those critics and show everyone what he is really capable of. This wasn’t a flawless performance and by no means is he currently the finished article. Ultimately though, he is a young player with time to improve and become fully match-fit and adapted in the Premier League. He showed a directness and a touch of pace that was refreshing to see from him. Hopefully this can be the turning of the corner for Sancho and he can show everyone else exactly what he is capable of.