It might have been a bad season for English clubs in Europe,
but nobody expected this.
Having been handed one of the easiest groups in Champions
League history, Manchester United somehow contrived to win none out four
against Benfica and Basel.
Manchester City's exit, ousted by Bayern Munich and Napoli, is
poor but understandable. United's is completely inexcusable.
Their punishment is a Thursday night date with the Europa
League, a competition Patrice Evra has already declared himself
"embarrassed" to be a part of.
So what happened?
Complacency
United always seem to get a favourable draw, and were duly presented
with a group that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Europa League. In
fact, if you offered Celtic a swap from their section with Atletico Madrid,
Udinese and Rennes, they would bite your hand off.
Benfica are good but not exceptional, and Basel are decent.
With Otelul Galati losing every match, all United had to do was not finish
bottom of a three-team mini-league. And they sleep-walked through the first
five matches, drawing two winnable games against Benfica and salvaging a point
from a shambolic display against Basel at Old Trafford.
United never bring their best stuff until the knockout
stages, and their position was never in serious jeopardy, we thought. So why try
harder? Ferguson walked out of a news conference when a
journalist dared claim his side were struggling on November 23. What message does that send to
the players, other than 'everything is going to be OK'? The players waited for
the results to come, instead of going out and seizing them.
Selection
Ferguson often gets a free pass where other managers would
get slaughtered. That's what happens when you win 12 Premier League titles -
history says you're nearly always right, so criticism looks faintly ridiculous. But even great managers make mistakes,
and Ferguson's team selection has been baffling and damaging.
First of all, his default European side bears only a passing
resemblance to his preferred Premier League XI. Antonio Valencia has started
five Champions League games and only two Premier League matches. Michael
Carrick has four Champions League starts and three in the Premier League.
Then there's the tinkering. Six strikers have started
Champions League games, and only one (Rooney) has done so more than twice -
with one of his four appearances in central midfield. And what about the
strange 'rotation' of the goalkeepers, which can hardly inspire confidence in
either man?
Goalkeepers
From the moment David De Gea misjudged an Edin Dzeko long
shot in the Community Shield, the Spaniard has come in for intense scrutiny. Every
unconvincing punch and shanked clearance has been pored over, and while De Gea
is not as bad as some would have you
believe, neither is he the finished article.
Give him a few years, and he will be a very good goalkeeper indeed.
But why not let him make his mistakes elsewhere and sign him later? Peter Schmeichel was 27 when he joined United;
Edwin van der Sar was 34 - both goalkeepers in their prime.
For £20 million, you might think United could sign a keeper
who did not need time to settle and mature. For that money, could you not make
a serious tilt at getting Gianluigi Buffon, Igor Akinfeev, Pepe Reina or Hugo
Lloris - or failing that Shay Given or Maarten Stekelenburg, who joined Roma
for a bargain £5m?
Midfield
Not only was United's midfield manned by players who barely
get a run out in the Premier League, the lack of a creative influence was felt
keenly.
Their best European performance came with Wayne Rooney
spraying passes around from the centre of the park - elsewhere the limitations
of Carrick, Anderson, Darren Fletcher and Phil Jones (a defender, for pity's sake) were
laid bare.
Money
United are a money-making machine - they reported a record
operating profit of £110.9m for the year to June 2011. They are one of the few
clubs that can manage a significant net spend in the transfer market without
even coming close to breaching Financial Fair Play rules.
And this is a club saddled with Glazer debt, which pays £45m
a year just to service interest payments on its loans. But what if that £45m
were not being poured down the toilet? What if it were being used to sign that
creative midfielder they so obviously need. Say, Wesley Sneijder or Luka Modric
or Kaka? Might that not help?
United have enjoyed success under the Glazers, and are a
successful enough business to make their debt level sustainable. But that does
not alter the fact that the club's American owners are a damaging drain on the
club.
Injuries
United have had a tough time, no doubt. Last night they were
without Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen, and lost Nemanja
Vidic to a knee injury. Danny Welbeck, Ashley Young and Rio Ferdinand have also
had spells out.
But when you are as big as Manchester United, injuries
should never be an excuse. Every club has them, and the top sides build a
strong enough squad to cope with any situation.
In years gone by, you imagine Ferguson might already have
cut the ailing Ferdinand adrift - no longer able to count on the defender's
fitness. But look at the replacements - Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling are
playing without confidence, while Jones's thrilling forward runs mask a defensive
uncertainty.
Up front, three players might have been missing but Ferguson
could still call England international Danny Welbeck off the bench. United's
squad should be big enough, but the stand-ins are not
stepping up.
Are they good enough?
Sometimes, it is relatively easy to point out where teams
are going wrong: 'If Arsenal had another centre-back', 'If Chelsea didn't play
such a high line', 'If West Brom had a goalscorer'. It's never good to have a
glaring weakness, but if you know what your problem is, at least you have a
fighting chance of fixing it.
United's specific issues in goal and in midfield have been
discussed, but their malaise goes deeper than that. For years, United have been
a team playing above their natural level - the likes of Park Ji-Sung and Fletcher have
overcome their technical limitations with effort and fight.
This season in Europe, United have played below themselves.
Who actually did well last night? Nani had his moments. Jones was OK. But
other than that? Not Rooney. Not Ferdinand. Not Ryan Giggs.
Jonny Evans played a major part in a record-breaking run of
clean sheets in 2009 - now he would struggle to get in the Sunderland team (and
will probably be doing exactly that next season).
Top players with big repuations have failed in a succession
of deeply lacklustre displays. Complacency might have been a factor, but not
last night. United knew how high the stakes were, and they failed to deliver,
almost to a man. Maybe they just aren't very good any more.
If you were to build a squad from scratch for the next five
years, who would you take? Rooney and Nani. Probably Vidic, though he is
getting on in years. Maybe Young, maybe Jones, though nobody seems
to know his best position. And that's pretty much it. Compared to City, United
look worryingly bereft of genuine quality.
- - -
And so the Europa League awaits. Will they win it? Probably
not, since better sides await than those they have just failed to beat. Not
least, Manchester City.
In an odd way, then, the Europa League represents one of the
bigger challenges Ferguson has faced in recent years; he must rouse his troops
for a competition they do not want to be in and - not for the first or last
time - silence his critics.
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