This article is a re-post and merge of my now defunct OurFootballBlog football writing blog from 2010 – 2011.
As the name suggests, I think defeat for Manchester United in Europe tonight could cost them not just their place in the Champions League, but also finish their pursuit of another Premier League title.
But Chelsea got knocked out?
Chelsea dropped out at an earlier round and the same suggestion was levied at them at the time, but some impressive performances since have turned things back in their favour, no more so than the win against Manchester United last week without Drogba until late on and even with his goal the game was already over. The real turning point for them was the thrashing (there really isn’t any other word for it) that they gave Aston Villa the week before. For me, Chelsea failed in the Champions League at just the right time, not too early to be a failure, although I’m sure Abramovich wasn’t best pleased, and not too late to have a negative impact on crucial performances. There’s no doubt they are now in the ascendancy.
So why is now too late?
Manchester United on the other hand looked very poor last week and they followed that up with a dismal performance against Chelsea, another poor performance and subsequent defeat at this stage of the season could have big implications on the final few games. Each one is a must win and without talisman Rooney the team have looked utterly toothless, leaderless and lacking quality, another knock to their confidence could be one too many.
My biggest issue here isn’t with the quality of opposition, but more with the temperament of the team. Against Chelsea it almost appeared as if they were using the absence of Rooney as an excuse not to perform at an acceptable level, if they do that again tonight it will spell end for Europe this year, give them real problems for the remaining domestic games ahead and potentially rush Sir Alex into an ill advised attempt to bring an unfit Rooney back into the side too early. Let me say that again, the team underperformed, almost intentionally, because of the absence of Rooney. No-one came forward to drive the team on, not Neville, not Ferdinand, not Fletcher, Giggs or Scholes. Only in form Nani who came on far too late (lord knows why he was on the bench in the first place) showed any kind of drive.
The bottom line
It’s a really simple one, this isn’t a team that can survive a defeat by Bayern tonight and go on to win the Premier League, not without Wayne Rooney and without Wayne Rooney (or a significantly improved performance) they wont get past Bayern tonight. If it starts badly, 10p says the fans are on their back before half time, and whilst I normally don’t agree with that treatment, I think it’d be with good reason this time.
