From a hibernation that has lasted
longer than some people would like to admit, the real Manchester United has
emerged blinking in to the night.
Yes, this was a second leg of a
qualifying tie all but put to bed at Old Trafford a week earlier and, yes, this
was a game against the fifth best team in Belgium, a side playing without eight
of its regular first team players.
That is, admittedly, the context of
this result and this performance. Nevertheless those who follow this club will
have recognised something of the swagger with which United put away Club Bruges
here. They will have recognised the mobility of the play, the running off the
ball, the passing and, of course, the clinical execution of chances.
Some will get carried away by this
and the sensible, those who know their football, will not. A sterner test lies
at Swansea in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday.
However, good football is good
football and there was plenty of that from Louis van Gaal’s team at the Jan
Breydelstadion. Wayne Rooney, the scorer of three goals, will take many of the
headlines. So too will the Spaniard Ander Herrera who overcame a dreadful start
to play his part in the dismantling of the opposition that followed over the
course of the night.
This, however, was a team
performance that Van Gaal must, above all, use as a template. Too much of his
team’s play during his time – this season and last – has been rigid and lacking
in flexibility. If he really is to move the club back in the direction it needs
to go in the manner in which it wishes to do so then he must take something from
what he saw here.
Bruges, it must be said, were
dreadful. Van Gaal had suggested on Tuesday that it was not impossible for a
club from one of Europe’s smaller leagues to impact on this competition. Well,
this year at least, it won’t be Michel Preud’homme’s team who began the tie
brightly by scoring the opening goal at Old Trafford last week and then got
progressively and dramatically worse.
On Wednesday night they were OK for
15 minutes, exerting some mild early pressure on a United team that began the
night rather unsure about how to proceed, given the 3-1 lead they carried from
the first game.
Soon, though, a pattern of
vulnerability remerged. The Bruges right back Davy De Fauw was particularly
wretched, for example, going to ground like someone who had forgotten to put
the right shoes on. Some of his team-mates were not much better either.
United still had to take advantage
of all this, though, and the manner in which they did so made for an
entertaining night and at one stage in the second half they threatened to
humiliate Bruges completely. Indeed it’s worth noting that United didn’t score
beyond the 62nd minute, due in part to a hapless contribution from substitute
Javier Hernandez, more of which later.
Midway through the first half,
though, it was Rooney who scored to finish the tie off and it was a goal that
owed much to the skill and awareness of Memphis Depay.
The young Dutchman didn’t have a
perfect night. At times he needed to get his head up.
On this occasion, though, Depay drifted in from the left marvellously and
slid a lovely ball in to the penalty area to Rooney. De Fauw helped the United
captain by lunging at, and missing, the ball but Rooney still finished nicely,
lifting the ball over goalkeeper Sinan Bolat with his right foot.
After this, Bruges visibly wilted.
They had threatened earlier as a United missing the central stability usually
afforded them by the absent Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin
struggled a little.
Now, though, they knew they had
nothing less to chase. In order to have any chance at all they needed to score
first and they hadn’t.
A couple of chances – spurned by
midfielder Claudemir and forward Abdoulay Diaby – did come their way just
before the interval but United emerged for the second half to pick them to
pieces in a devastating 17-minute spell.
Half-time substitute Schweinsteiger
was fundamental to it but so too was Herrera, pushed forwards in to the hole
left by the withdrawn Adnan Januzaj.
Rooney’s second and third goals were
beautiful to watch. The first of the half, in the 49th minute, was constructed
by Depay and Herrera, the second eight minutes later by Schweinsteiger, Herrera
and Juan Mata. They were different goals but the principles of sharp, quick,
short passing and clever movement were exactly the same and recognisable as
classic United traits. It looked like five-a-side football and that, perhaps,
is the greatest compliment that can be paid.
Rooney almost scored again, denied
by Bolat when played clear, before Herrera finished his own night by sliding a
sumptuous Schweinsteiger through ball underneath the goalkeeper.
With almost half an hour left,
Bruges were in pieces and embarrassment beckoned.
United, though, dropped their levels
slightly and were not helped by two hopeless Hernandez moments, a penalty miss
and a scoop over the bar from just six yards.
The Mexican’s night was a bad one
and his future remains unclear. That, however, was only the negative for Van
Gaal.
His team looked like Manchester
United again here and the only unknown this morning is how long it will
last.
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