No Dutch Courage For United

Manchester United 0 PSV Eindhoven 0

On a night in which the Old Trafford faithful paid tributes to George Best one thing is for certain, the legend would not have enjoyed the display from his beloved Reds as they lacked any attacking prowess and inventiveness in front of goal.

The 3,000 visiting fans from Holland brought banners of sympathy for Luke Shaw, who was lucky enough to have been given time off so as not to witness a game that was so dull most of the fans must have wished they hadn't bothered turning up as well.

Following a week of injury woes Louis van Gaal at last had the luxury to choose from a fit strike force that included Martial and Rooney after Memphis had filled the main attacking role against Watford to much critical acclaim.

Phil Jones and Ander Herrera were the latest casualties of the weekend, but the manager was able to call upon the majority of his main troops for the last home tie of the group stage: De Gea, Darmian, Smalling, Blind, Rojo, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Lingard, Memphis, Rooney and Martial.

In came Rooney and Martial as expected in place of the injured Herrera and Mata, who would start the match from the bench. Memphis continued in the side against his old team, Lingard was given the green light to continue in the starting XI after his stellar performances of late and Darmian came back to strengthen the defence.

PSV got the game underway, but it was United who started on the front foot and attacked from the off and earned a corner which Smalling almost made contact with.

The home side's attack had Martial as the main striker with Rooney in the hole behind and Lingard and Memphis out wide, but it would seem that they all had a licence to interchange positions to try and confuse the defenders.

Schweinsteiger had the first attempt on goal from the edge of the box but the keeper collected the shot easily.

A nice touch from the home crowd after 7 minutes as they held up their phones lighting up the Theatre of Dreams in tribute to the greatest son of United, George Best.

The first ten minutes witnessed a rather cautious start from United as they sensibly bided their time in search of the opener.

Memphis tried his luck from distance but his effort was rather weak and didn't trouble the opposing keeper.

It was all rather pedestrian on the quarter hour mark with neither side intent on pushing too hard for the breakthrough and no player seemed to want to stamp their authority on the game.

Darmian tried to raise the excitement level with a wonderful ball across the face of the goal which Rooney was a hair's breath away from connecting with for a certain goal. Then it was the captain's turn to be the provider as he carved out a chance firstly for Martial and then Lingard to try their luck, but their communication in the box was on a different wavelength but at least United was starting to turn the screw.

In the first half hour, it had been Schneiderlin who had impressed for the Reds as he tried on numerous occasions to start the attacks with some delightful diagonal through balls.

Another cross almost provided the opener this time from the left and the boot of Rojo which was just cleared in time by a defender. From the resulting corner, Schneiderlin almost nudged the ball over the line, however, the keeper was quick to react and saved on the line.

De Gea made his first contribution of the game as he saved, it has to be said rather dramatically, at full stretch from an effort by Hendrix on the half hour.

Martial came the closest when he was fortuitously played in on goal in the box by a Lingard deflected drive and his right footed shot that only needed to be either side of the keeper, ended up straight in the stoppers grateful hands, a great chance to take the lead.

As one minute of extra time was announced Martial once again created a chance with a thunderous shot that the keeper saved yet again.

United ended the half at least trying to go in a goal to the good, and would have if their shooting boots had been on. It ended 0-0 with the Dutch visitors contented to sit back, defend and, therefore, frustrate the Red Devils. With the pace up front surely it would be only a matter of time for United to find the breakthrough in the second half.

Not for the first time at Old Trafford a visiting keeper, this time Jeroen Zoet made a name for himself with a string of saves to deny United.

United kicked off the second half attacking the Stretford End and immediately, as they had at the start of the match, won a corner that was met by Schneiderlin's head but sailed over the bar.

It was all United as first Memphis was thwarted by the busy PSV keeper then Schneiderlin made a decent run into the box but the ball ran out of play.

Not for the first time this season United had to be careful of a counter attack from an away side as most of the action was up at the other end the defenders needed to be alert and on their toes.

After almost an hour gone in the match van Gaal decided to make a double substitution in an attempt to liven up the proceedings by bringing on Fellaini and Young for Schweinsteiger and Memphis.

The change of Young for Memphis was understandable as the Dutch youngster had struggled against his former club and Young's deliveries could be crucial. However, Fellaini for Schweinsteiger was a head scratcher to say the least, unless of course the German had a knock.

The Old Trafford faithful began to make their feelings heard as groans ran out around the stadium as United struggled to get a grip on the game and the visitors started to enjoy their brightest spell of possession.

As the match entered the final twenty minutes United's passing had completely gone to pot and they began to gift the visitors chances to attack on a plate.

Young did deliver a ball if note into the path of Lingard, who rushed his half volley ten yards out and it ended up well over the bar.

Rooney dropped back into midfield and Fellaini moved up into the attack, which begs the question why Mata wasn't introduced in place of Schweinsteiger as his ability to open defences is far superior to the lanky Fellainis', who was now just the focus of long balls to his head in the opposition's area, waste.

At last Mata was brought into the game for the final five minutes in place of Darmian. This change meant that Young was moved to the right wing back position. However, there wasn't enough time for the Spaniard to have any impact on the result. Right idea, but twenty minutes too late.

Two observations to be made at this point in the game was that once again Rooney was dropping way too deep and Fellaini was a hindrance by conceding too many free kicks in promising areas.

Another point of note was that Martial was not receiving any service and it has to be said that during the second period he was not involved in any attack as it seemed the only tactic was to aim balls up to Fellaini and hope that his teammates would feed off the scraps.

United's night was summed up when Lingard was booked for an over aggressive reaction after he had been awarded a free kick. That was the last action of a very disappointing match that ended in a stalemate.

The post-mortem began following the final whistle by all quarters as United blew their chance of qualifying on the night and will now have it all to do away in Wolfsburg in two weeks time. It means that United have to win or at least match PSV's result against CSKA Moscow. So, their Champions League destiny rests firmly in their own hands.

All that could have been avoided with a victory over PSV, however, due to a number of poor tactical decisions by the manager and players on the pitch it wasn't to be. One player that can hold their head up high is Morgan Schneiderlin who was by far United's outstanding player, but even the Frenchman faded as the match progressed.

One thing is clear and that is if United are to qualify in the Champions League then Rooney should not play in midfield as he cannot have an effect on the game from deep as on many occasions the play totally broke down due to his inadequacies in that position.

Hopefully, in the final group match in Germany Fellaini won't be involved as he really is nowhere near the player he was last season as just maybe the opposition have totally sussed out how to play against him. The fact that United spent the final minutes of the game hoping to find his head in the box sums up how hapless the team's ideas are when he is on the pitch.

On the night, United were crying out for a player akin to the Irish legend to take the game by the scruff of the neck but they clearly do not exist anymore. There will only be one George Best.

Next up sees the Red Devils face a tricky encounter against Leicester City away in a top of the table clash. Now there's something nobody expected to see when the season started.

Thanks for reading.

Miles Dunton.

Shaw Injury Blow To United.

PSV 2 Manchester United 1

Sometimes events on the pitch far outweigh the result and this was true about United's opening defeat in Holland as defender Luke Shaw suffered a double fracture of his right leg which will rule him out for six months if not longer.

After a season of watching from a distance it was time for United to take their place among the European elite once again as they played their opening match in this season's group stage of the Champions League against PSV of Holland.

The match saw the quick return of Memphis to his old stomping ground after signing for United in June.  He left the club a hero and received a warm welcome from the home fans in recognition of the service he gave to the Dutch outfit over eight years.

Louis van Gaal was also returning to his native homeland, but his record at the Philips Stadion is not a glowing one as a manager as out of ten matches in charge with AZ,  Ajax and Barcelona he has only enjoyed two wins.

After the victory over Liverpool the manager had a tough decision to make and that was whether he should start with the side that began against Liverpool or go with the eleven that finished the match because the first half was not a patch on the second.

Ashley Young brought a much-needed injection of urgency to the second half at Old Trafford last Saturday and, of course, there was a scoring debut for new teenage striker Anthony Martial.

In the end, the manager decided that his starting XI would consist of: De Gea, Darmian, Smalling, Blind, Shaw, Schweinsteiger, Herrera, Young, Mata, Depay and Martial.
Subs: Romero, Rojo, Carrick, Valencia, Fellaini, Schneiderlin and McNair.

A very attack-minded side with Martial given his first start as a United player after van Gaal admitted that Fellaini was too ill to start the match and with no Rooney he was left with little choice. Chris Smalling was given the captain's armband as Carrick started from the bench.

Man United got the match underway wearing their new black third strip for the first time and the first quarter of an hour was all United as they used the wings to great effect and dominated possession and would have been hoping to turn it into goals until a horrendous tackle on Luke Shaw by defender Hector Moreno changed everything.

As Shaw entered the penalty area after a surging run he was scythed down by Moreno and went to ground in obvious agony as clearly something serious had happened. After receiving medical assistance, Shaw was stretchered off clearly in pain with an oxygen mask easing his obvious discomfort.

The amazing thing was that Moreno wasn't even cautioned for his awful challenge and quite why the referee didn't even deem it dangerous in any way is beyond belief.

On a side note of the sad turn of events, as Shaw was stretchered off to warm applause throughout the stadium Marcos Rojo entered the action as he replaced the England international for his first start of the season.

The United players were visibly upset by the injury to their teammate, but they had to find a way to clear their minds and get on with the job in hand.

United stepped up the pressure five minutes before half-time and it paid off as Memphis collected a great pass in the 41st minute from Blind, who had moved to the left back position, and the former PSV hero danced into the penalty area then placed a low left-footed shot past the keeper to give the visitors a deserved lead.

The Dutchman almost followed that up with his second before captain Smalling found himself in the unlikely position of a striker, however, his effort was blocked for a corner. A case of captain literally leading from the front.

With so much added time to be played due to the injury to Shaw PSV rubbed salt into United's wounds by equalising from a corner and it was the player who shouldn't even have been on the pitch, Moreno, who had his header deflected into the net by Blind.

Even with the two late goals the first half was all about the terrible injury to Luke Shaw and it was made worse by the fact that the offender Moreno celebrated his goal with such aplomb. Shaw had started the season extremely well after so many injuries last season, so this was a real blow to the youngster.

The second half got underway with the home side on the offensive and their attacking play caught United on the back foot after 57 minutes when a high cross into the box eluded Rojo and found Narsingh at the far post to head home to put PSV in the lead.

Interestingly, it was Blind who had struggled to get back to track the scorer in the position where Shaw would have been. Blind has been solid at the back alongside Smalling but as a full-back his pace is suspect to say the least which begs the question why wasn't Rojo used as a direct replacement for Shaw to keep the partnership of Smalling and Blind together.

Moreno was at it again, this time on Young, who was brought down by another dangerous tackle, but this time he was eventually booked.

Mata had a great chance to equalise or even square the ball across the box to an unmarked Memphis, but his initial control let him down and the big chance was wasted.

During the second half there was a lot of huffing and puffing by United but without the ability to blow the home defence down as they tried to play their way through the middle of a compact back four and when they did go wide the deliveries from the wings were poor.

Van Gaal tried to freshen the side up when he replaced Herrera with Fellaini for the last twenty minutes and shortly after the change Martial almost recreated the Mark Hughes goal from the '91 Cup Winners Cup final but the teenager shot weakly wide.

Valencia replaced Young in the last throws of a match that was increasingly slipping away from United with the home supporters raising the roof as the away side struggled to create any chances of note with Fellaini guilty of slow reactions inside the box probably due to his illness.

There was a moment that summed up United's night when in injury time they won a free-kick on the edge of the box for a handball and with the penalty area full of players ready to attack the expected delivery they decided to play it short and the chance had gone.

Full time and United had been beaten 2-1 by a determined and well-organised PSV side. As for United they can take solace in the fact that things can only get better.

The injury to Shaw left a black cloud over the match and the performance of the referee should also be questioned as he let so many bad challenges by the home team go without any cautions, but the Red Devils only had themselves to blame as once they had taken the lead they should have made sure of the result with enough chances to put the game out of the reach of the hosts, but they allowed the Dutch side to bully them into submission and were left wanting in the end.

There is still no need to panic just yet as there is a long way to go in the group and if United can win their first home game against Wolfsburg then they will be firmly back on track.

But it was a night when everybody's thoughts in the football world turned to Luke Shaw and with the well-wishing came the hope that he will make a full and speedy recovery as did Antonio Valencia when he suffered a bad break to his ankle, also in the Champions League.

I will leave the last words to Shaw himself: "Thank you, everyone, for your messages, words can't describe how gutted I am, my road to recovery starts now, I will come back stronger."

Thanks for reading.

Miles Dunton.

Welcome To Manchester, Memphis.

After what has seemed like an age Memphis Depay has finally put pen to paper and signed for Manchester United.

He is one of the hottest if not the hottest young talents in European football, a player that has been sought after by a host of top clubs all over the continent.

He seems to be the type of player ideally suited to the United way. He's young, talented and not short of confidence as he is quick to tell everyone exactly how good he is.

But who is the player that Louis van Gaal agreed to sign before the transfer window even opened in order to beat off the advances of PSG?

Memphis was born on the 13th of February in 1994 in Moordrecht, Netherlands. His father is Ghanaian and his mother is Dutch. His parents separated when he was only four years old so he uses the name Memphis rather than his surname.

At the age of nine Memphis played for Sparta Rotterdam, then came the chance to move to a bigger club three years later in 2006. That club was PSV Eindhoven and he spent time working his way up through their system until he finally made his first team debut in September 2011. It was a Dutch cup match and the opponents were amateurs but all the same he marked his debut by scoring a double.

Memphis had to wait a little while longer to make his league debut which came in February 2012 when PSV beat rivals Feyenoord 3-2 at home.

At the end of the season, Memphis featured in the KNVB Cup final on 8 April 2012 which PSV won 3-0 against Heracles Almelo. Although not on the scoresheet Memphis had done enough to warrant a professional contract which he signed on the 29th of June 2012. It was a long-term contract that would keep him at PSV until 2017.

The following season proved to be his breakthrough season and one in which people took notice of this young Dutch talent. It was also the season that he broke into The Netherlands senior squad making his first full appearance in 2013 which would eventually lead onto the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil. Of course, the national team was coached by the future Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal.

In the 2013/14 season, Memphis made his European debut for his club and although PSV didn't end up qualifying for the group stages he had shown Europe a glimpse of his immense talents. For example, in their second group stage match in the Europa League, Memphis scored a stunning goal by curling the ball into the net from outside the area as PSV beat Chornomorets Odesa 2–0.

After a very successful 2014 World Cup, Memphis was linked to a number of clubs, including Manchester United. However, he stayed at PSV and for them thank heavens he did. His goal tally of 22 went a long way to securing the 22nd Dutch Championship for his club.

In was in the last month of the season that both PSV and Manchester United announced that they had reached an agreement with the player to move from Holland to England. The transfer would be official on June 1st. It was then that Louis van Gaal informed everybody the reasons behind pushing through the agreement. Memphis was hot property and someone had to make a move and quickly.

The player enjoyed an emotional farewell in front of his adoring PSV fans as he signed off with one of his trademark long-distance free kicks. A fitting way to end his career at the club.

Once the dust had settled Memphis spoke of his desire to play in the English Premier league and that it was his dream to play at Manchester United. He also cited the huge influence and no doubt the Dutch connection of Louis van Gaal behind his decision.

So what is in store for the United faithful next season? Well, Memphis is a speedy winger who enjoys taking on defenders and is certainly no lightweight, comfortable on the ball with both feet and of course as he has shown he has an eye for the goal, especially with free kicks. He has excelled in recent internationals for Holland including unwittingly scoring a goal with his face against the USA.

At 21 he has a long career ahead of him and I am sure that he will build on his undoubted talent under the guidance of Louis van Gaal and go on to have a bright future at Old Trafford and help the club to get back to winning trophies.

He left Holland as a champion let's hope he ends his first season at United the same way.

Good Luck Memphis.

Miles Dunton.