During any of the previous seasons, had Manchester United been drawn against the likes of Olimpiacos in the Champions League knockout phases, fans would have been confident enough to book their tickets for the quarter-finals. It was a nightmare to play in front of a vociferous home crowd at Old Trafford and with Sir Alex Ferguson manning the touchline, an away side would find it particularly daunting.
This season, however, the fear factor that United held for so long is no longer present. Greek side Olympiakos showed just that as they exploited United’s inability to defend and achieved a shock 2-0 win over the reigning Premier League champions. With Juan Mata being cup-tied, the Red Devils chose to go with experience as Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand started in the heart of the defence flanked by Chris Smalling and Patrice Evra. Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley were charged with shielding the backline with an attacking trio of Wayne Rooney, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young supporting lone striker Robin van Persie.
United hogged the possession statistics (61%), but what matters is what the team does with that much possession. Sadly for the Red Devils, they were harassed, bullied and at times made to look amateurish on the ball as the Greeks pressed them high up the pitch forcing mistakes from the midfield. Carrick, who just a few days earlier was compared to Bayern medio Toni Kroos, after United overcame Crystal Palace, would have wished for atleast a fraction of Kroos’ distribution during this game.
The Englishman had a poor game against Olympiakos
The Greek side lined up with a 4-2-3-1 too like United, but the difference was that they were determined to retain possession and hunted in packs when the opposition had the ball. This was a key reason why they clearly looked the more dangerous side and Alejandro Dominguez’s opener was a matter of when rather than if. Although there was an element of good fortune for the opening goal, Arsenal loanee Joel Campbell’s second half wonder strike was a combination of pure skill and outright abysmal defending from United.
David Moyes was seen as a good replacement for Sir Alex Ferguson for his emphasis to field youth players, usage of wingers and the ability to get the most out of minimal resources. But at United, the tactics which served him so well at Everton have fallen apart. Valencia and Young stayed too close to the touchline to influence proceedings when they would have been better off drifting inwards and prompting a box overload with both Rooney and Van Persie to support. Young especially was guilty of this as he punted in 8 crosses in the course of the game with no one to aim at.
Moyes’ was guilty of leaving his most creative player Shinji Kagawa on the bench. The Japanese international has not looked at home at all under Moyes and could have helped his side look like a greater threat had he been given more time on the pitch. Van Persie was not his usual self and could have been hauled off to allow Rooney to take up the striker’s position with Kagawa playing off him.
United fans will wish for this nightmare season to end as their only chance of silverware seems bleak. Michael Carrick spoke of a comeback in the second leg at home, but if United put in another shift like the one on Tuesday, they may be in danger of being labelled as a side that surrendered meekly to their opposition.
