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Key events
23 min What United have lacked so far is players beating their men. When Tielemans did it earlier, it opened things up, but they need more of it from their attackers. Meantime, though, Mainoo sweeps a lovely lofted pass forward – the kind of thing he has to do more often – picking out Bruno, unmarked on the right of the box. He’s got Sesko in the middle, but his square-ball is careless and Sabah get it behind.
21 min Mazraoui is doing a fair bit of work underlapping, and here he is again, but when the ball goes into the box, there’s too much on it for Dorgu to control his header back across.
19 min The corner is comfortably collected by Pokatilov.
18 min Martinez and Mainoo look to bait the press but Sabah sit off, in their shape and forcing United to come up with something. So it goes into Mainoo, who plays a nice pass out wide and, when Dorgu crosses, they pick up the second ball and try to pick a route through a crowded box before Bruno shoots, the ball deflected behind.
17 min Sabah attack confidently, passing through midfield, then the ball goes wide to Parris, whose speculative shot is weak and straight at Lammens.
15 min Sabah will be delighted with how this is going. United need to get closer together and move the ball faster, players following passes and breaking into the box.
14 min The first flash of Tielemans, beating two men in midfield and spreading to Dorgu, who finds Cunha down the left side of the box. He might shoot but opts to recycle, which is probably a sensible call: control, not hopeful efforts with two defenders between him and keeper.
13 min Zedaka runs at Martinez, trying to go by on the outside, but the defender is strong, making the challenge and winning a goalkick.
12 min United win another corner and again, Mbeumo goes back post; it yields another, down the left this time, against the ball goes deep, and the ref spies some kind of foul, so awards Sabah a free-kick.
10 min Mazraoui has a shot from the edge blocked, then Mbeumo squares for Bruno, who caresses a lovely one-touch pass back the way it came, and Mazraoui will shoot … wide of the near post.
9 min Mbeumo aims the corner at Martinez, who springs at the back post, but can’t get the purchase necessary to make anything happen.
8 min Mazraoui finds Cunha, outside him on the right, and his low shot is bundled behind at his near post by Pokatilov.
7 min As a team, United are trying to find the balance between attacking with intensity and staying patient; against Everton, they strayed too close to the latter.
5 min This has been a decent start from Sabah, who don’t look daunted at all and why should they? They’re a champion team playing one under pressure and, as the move it forward, Parris shimmies inside then dips out, fooling Dorgu, the ball clipping his shin and then his hand as he turns away. There are calls for a penalty, but even in Europe, no chance; the corner comes to nowt.
3 min Some of United’s passing at Everton was really sloppy, Cunha and Mbeumo the main culprits, and they’ve already given the ball away a couple of times tonight, Sesko passing it to no one. He does, though, close down the the keeper, who swallows his insides as he tries to get the ball out of his feet, just about managing to move it wide.
2 min United look to move the ball quickly but Sabah aren’t here to watch them, getting in among it. On the one hand, it increases the pressure on each pass but, on the other, it leaves gaps to hit.
1 min Away we go!
We take a moment to remember those who died and are suffering following the awful tragedy in Nepal.
If they offered odds on it, I’d be considering a few pennies on Marcus Rashford to score last – he’s a terrific sub, will almost definitely get on, and I’d expect the game-state to offer him opportunities.
Our teams are tunnelled … and here they come.
“Carrick is not given the credit he deserves,” says Krishnamoorthy V. “So many heavyweights have come and gone after SAF and few have been as quiet and as effective as Carrick. He should be given more freedom and a longer term to stabilise and deliver. They may not go far in this new Swiss scheme but their focus should be top four and constant presence in Big Cup.”
He’s fortunate in that it’s likely to be top five for the foreseeable future. Otherwise, I’d say that if United can’t make the playoffs, that’d be a failure, probably the last 16 too – he has players more than good enough for that, because though there are defensive issues, what he has should be good enough for the league stage and even if not, his attackers should be able to outscore most opposition they’ve been drawn against.
Talking of United’s firepower, it makes sense to see Sesko given a start tonight. He missed the end of last season and didn’t have a proper pre-season, so bringing him along slowly made sense.
My sense is Carrick’s inclination is two have three all-purpose attackers rather than a reference-point centre-forward, but i’m certain he knows that, though his stable contains a lot of really good attackers, the one with elite potential is the one who doesn’t necessarily fit his model.
Sesko is a phenomenal athlete, able to finish in a variety of different ways; his best hold-up play is very good though it needs polishing, and he brings useful defensive height to a relatively short outfit. However he does present issues of balance, because he needs service, and United’s wide players aren’t really into that – Mbeumo wants to score and Cunha wants to dribble and shoot. That said, Rashford’s creativity is better than he’s given credit for and seems to have improved while he was at Barca, with Tielemans’ crossing a potentially rich avenue of provision.
“It feels like there has been a certain pattern to United over the years since Fergie left in that there is usually a decent/good season usually achieving Champions League qualification followed by a drop-off the following season due to the additional games in Champions League and the defeats that usually come with that,” reckons John Brennan. “I’m thinking of 23-24 under Ten Haag, 21-22 under Solskjær and, going further back, 18-19 under Mourinho. If this pattern holds (and the results so far this season suggest that it might), I can see a draw tonight followed by a comfortable win for Man City at the weekend and all of a sudden Carrick is going to be under pressure.”
The drop-off you mention, I think, was also because after qualification was achieved, all those managers were denied the necessary funds to strengthen, because they’d achieved the board’s objective. I’ll be pretty surprised if United don’t win comfortably tonight because they’ve got so much firepower, but they could easily play well at the weekend and lose because any team in the world could play well against City and lose. At this point, of course results are crucial, but so are performances – I didn’t watch the Everton game and think United were hopeless. As I say below, they’re learning how to control a game – both Solskjær and Van Gaal fell down when they tried that, having not been backed in the market – and progress isn’t always linear. But they do seem to moving in the right direction.
It’s also worth noting that Patrick Dorgu starts at left-back tonight, for the first time under Carrick. Bought for Ruben Amorim, really he’s a specialist wing-back – not a defender because his awareness isn’t great, nor his ability to pass the ball out from the back, nor a winger because he lacks finesse and one-on-one ability – he starts at the back tonight mainly because Shaw is rested and there’s no better option. But if he’s to have a future as a starter, it feels much more likely it’ll be at the back than in attack – though, as we’ve seen he’s got a worldie in him.
Thinking more about that United defence, this is a big evening for Leny Yoro. He was pretty good in his first season at Old Trafford, but didn’t get to play much last; ultimately, Carrick couldn’t afford to risk him because he had a formula that worked – Maguire and Martinez, plus fast counters – with points to win and a job to secure.
But if United are to get properly good, they need to close the huge spaces in their midfield that come about partly because of how deep that first-choice centre-back pairing needs to defend due to its lack of pace – for defensive reasons, but also so they can squeeze up on opposing teas. Though Yoro has actually been better at left centre-back, not right, Martínez’s playmaking is perhaps the best in the world – one of the reasons United struggled for parts of the game at the weekend is because Everton forced the ball to Maguire – so he can’t really be left out.
A good game tonight won’t be enough to earn a derby spot, I don’t think, but I’m certain the plan is to upgrade on Maguire – and perhaps Martínez too. If Yoro has a good season, he can be the internal solution to solve that problem; if he doesn’t, he’ll have a problem, because United won’t be waiting.
Email! “Yes, there are reasons both emotional and mythological why United need to be in the Champions League,” concedes Matt Dony. “But there are equally emotional and mythological reasons why, to fans of other clubs, their Champions League return being on a Thursday night against a relative European minnow is objectively funny. It sort of doesn’t feel like a Champions League night. Not that that will matter one jot to the players and fans. And it shouldn’t, obviously. A club like United clearly belong here. It’s a footballing shame that they’ve been so far away for so long. I’m not convinced Carrick is the long-term solution, but I hope he enjoys an extended European adventure. (Just not too extended, obviously.)”
Of course – one of the joys of football is the opportunity to glory in ultimately meaningless misery. Carrick’s done well so far, and though there’s not been as much progress as is required out of possession, in possession they’re doing more of the right things, with Carlos Baleba still to come in. He may not be the long-term solution because almost no one is, but he might be able to take United most of the way, even if it requires someone else to finish the job. Whoever on earth that is.
The manner of Sabah’s qualification was also incredible. Get a load of this.
Sabah, by the way, are second in the Azerbaijani league with three wins from three. If you’ve not come across their manager’s story, it’s a movie; the movie Slumdog Millionaire wishes it was.
Carrick tells TNT they’ll give Sabah maximum respect. They’ve won a lot of matches, play attractive, attacking football, and they’ll be a challenge, but he’s mainly focused on United.
Shaw came off with cramp at the weekend so they opted not to take a chance on him, but they wanted freshen things up and get the balance right. He’s got a good squad and thinks this is a good team, but he didn’t want to change too much as that makes things difficult.
Though results haven’t been great, Carrick thinks United have improved from last season, with some good attacking and combination play. He wants his team to be ready from the first whistle and other scat, then off he goes.
Looking more closely at that United XI, it makes broad sense. Though I’m not sure why it’s Noussair Mazraoui not Diogo Dalot, Michael Carrick can’t afford to risk Luke Shaw, who didn’t train yesterday, given the lack of left-back alternative and derby coming on Sunday.
In the centre of defence, Leny Yoro gets a necessary start, Matheus Cunha is back on the left, and Benjamin Sesko makes his first start of the season after scoring off the bench at Everton. It’s also worth noting that Mason Mount, really impressive in pre-season playing in the midfield pivot, is on the bench having injured himself – sadly, again – though the competition for places in that position is intense.
Latest scores: Fenerbahce 1-1 Roma, PSV 1-1 Shakhtar.
Teams
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): Lammens; Mazraoui, Yoro, Martínez, Dorgu; Tielemans, Mainoo; Mbeumo, Fernandes, Cunha; Sesko. Subs: Darlow, Mee, Dalot, Maguire, Mount, Rashford, Zirkzee, Andrey Santos, Heaven, Lacey, Fletcher T, Amass.
Sabah (4-2-3-1): Pokatilov; Zedaka, McCarthy, Dashdamirov, Puchacz; Rakhmonalev, Lepinjica; Parris, Simic, Nwachukwu; Mickels. Subs: Ramazanov, Mirzammadov, Kahibulaev, Isaev, Rustamli, Mutallimov, Almeida, Du Queiroz, Fernandes, Mukhtarov, Mbina.
Preamble
We live in a world eager to issue commands about all the things we need – chief among them money, not one we often contest. But it is unarguably the case that the world’s resources are bountiful enough for every person in it to live in comfort and luxury … if only our species was pleasant enough to deem that essential.
The problem is that for some people, it’s not about having, but about having more. Take Manchester United, for example: we’re currently being told that they need to be in the Champions League because the financial disadvantage of being out of it is so extreme that it’s impossible for them to compete with the clubs that are involved.
This is not so because, rather like planet earth – yes, here cometh the segue – Manchester United possesses the means to sustain itself. Rather what Manchester United need is owners who don’t sequester sizeable chunks of what it generates for their own selfish ends.
It does, though, remain the case that for reasons emotional and mythological, well enough known not to require enumerating here, Manchester United need to be in the Champions League. Well, here they are.
And they have the players to do something. They’ve made a spotty start in the league, but despite conceding an injury-time equaliser at Everton last weekend, the game contained more positives than negatives, the team still settling into a style of play intended to be dominant and controlled, in the aftermath of a World Cup summer, with their big midfield signing still injured.
All that will cost them in the league, so too the failure or inability to reinforce the defence. But provided they can stay in this competition into the new year – something that’s often been beyond them in the Post-Fergie Wilderness YearsTM – they ought by then to have a method which suits knockout football, and already no longer have André Onana in net, chucking them in as fast as they can be scored.
In the meantime, though, there’s a league out of which they need to get – created, by amazing coincidence, because for some, it’s not about having but about having more.
Kick-off: 8pm BST
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