MANCHESTER UNITED MUST GIVE BARCELONA THE RESPECT THEY DESERVE
The recent UEFA Champions League draw not surprisingly still has the large population of Manchester United family buzzing as Manchester United witnessed the Catalan giants FC Barcelona pulled out of the box during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final draw which took place earlier during this month of March.
Few would have expected the response to the draw coming from the Red part of Manchester to be one of such high enthusiasm considering dangerous an opponent FC Barcelona have proved to be not just in the Champions League alone but in Spanish La Liga in general as Ernesto Valverde’s men continue to play fantastic football while simultaneously sitting comfortably on top of the Spanish La Liga table threatening to run away as undisputed champions this season. A couple of other clubs would possibly quiver at the mere thought of going up against multiple-time winners of the Champions League competition. But from the looks of everything, Manchester United appear unphased by the reality of going up against Barcelona in three weeks. In fact, Manchester United seem to have embraced the upcoming draw with Barcelona and appear to be eagerly counting down the days until the Champions League Quarter Final 1st leg kicks off at Old Trafford.
The idea of any club willingly ready and eagerly awaiting an encounter against a dangerous opponent such as Barcelona, a team who is endowed with so many players skillfully equipped to hurt any team from any area of the field will sound insane. But taking a step back and looking at Manchester United’s overall recent track record on both the Premier League and the Champions League competitions ever since the emergence of Ole Gunner Solskjaer and one starts to understand where the surge of confidence around Manchester United might be coming from. Paris St German, Chelsea, and Tottenham have all fallen victims at the hands of Manchester United since the emergence of Ole Gunner Solskjaer as Manager of Manchester United, naturally the situation will make sense that Manchester United will have a certain feeling of an invincible phoenix rising from the ashes. But has FC Barcelona not earned the respect of a team that Manchester United should be careful going up against?
Judging from the recent result of Manchester United’s recent exit from this seasons Emirate Cup competition at the hands of the much improved Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, Manchester United must have realized that the Red Devils have not completely molded themselves into the finished product whom can afford to be overconfident against a quality team such as Barcelona. During Manchester United’s last recorded loss which arrived against Wolverhampton, Manchester United appeared to have arrived into the game a little overconfident at the starting points of the match as the Red Devils dominated possession of the ball during the majority of the match but failed to create major goal scoring opportunities while in possession of the ball.
61% of ball possession and yet only 11 shots registered by Manchester United with just 2 shots on target in over 90 minutes paint a scenario of Wolverhampton almost allowing Manchester United to have possession of the ball and yet Manchester United could simply not do anything concrete with the ball at their feet. Complete contrast of the same Manchester United who had stepped into Paris a couple of nights ago and conquered the French giants emphatically. Manchester United still have a couple of bugs to work out within the next couple of weeks if Ole Gunner Solskjaer men are to combat Barcelona and emerge victoriously.
During the post-match interview of the Emirates Cup competition, Ole Gunner Solskjaer was asked a very good question? What would you say about Manchester United’s performance tonight? To which the Manchester United’s interim manager replied: “we didn’t play to our standards tonight. Even though we dominated possession of the ball we, I never felt we could control the game because we gave the ball away, which they (FC Wolverhampton) wanted to break on us and they took their chances well.”
When asked the question of why exactly the level of performance Manchester United played with against Wolverhampton did not match the typical high quality Manchester United has been playing with under Ole Gunner Solskjaer the Manchester United manager replied with : it’s one of those things were we’ve been on a good run, we’ve played well, we’ve performed well but today there was a big step back in performance and I have got to say I am disappointed in the performance tonight and we just have to hold our hands up and say well done.”
Solskjaer is right on all aspects as Manchester United were indeed outplayed by a stellar Wolverhampton team a couple of nights ago but the bigger question will be: How will Manchester United be prepared mentally for yet another massive opponent such as Barcelona in the Champions League after crashing out of the Emirates cup competition which Manchester United were favorites to win? With no disrespect to Nuno Santos team but FC Barcelona is a completely higher caliber team playing outstanding football and dominating the Spanish La Liga this season.
Manchester United will be aware that their only realistic hope of silverware this season will be in the UEFA Champions League competition. Should Ole Gunner Solskjaer pull out yet another massive victory of making past Barcelona in the quarter-final stage of the Champions League, Solskjaer will surely be incredibly close to being guaranteed the permanent position. But Manchester United must not fall prey to the drunken illusion that victory against Barcelona will come relatively easy.
