Romero’s quiet night but doubts rumble on
WHEN a manager gets results, everything else becomes irrelevant by comparison. Even Jose Mourinho may find that, if his Chelsea team can win at Manchester City tomorrow.
Two games into a season that will perhaps tell us more about Louis van Gaal than the last one did, therefore, and the Manchester United manager is keeping some pretty big questions at bay courtesy of an opening win at home to Tottenham and now this result.
United have not convinced everybody of their worth yet. These have been two functional performances lacking in a little expression.
Nevertheless, if results come their way then United’s peculiar handling of the situation surrounding their goalkeeper David de Gea will be tolerated by the rank and file who braved the chaos of the midlands motorway system to be here last night.
Certainly, Van Gaal’s attitude towards De Gea is worthy of discussion. It is not generally United’s way to become embroiled in petty exchanges with their own players. Alex Ferguson, for example, only used to say his piece once he knew a player was clearing his locker.
United improved a little on their win over Tottenham and already they have five points more than they did this time last year.
As was the case at Old Trafford at the weekend, there was some focus on De Gea’ s standin, the Argentinian Sergio Romero (above). The former Sampdoria player did manage to let a shot through his legs during the warmup but once it came to the real thing he was not unduly troubled by an Aston Villa team that looks as though it could again flirt with relegation.
Romero did play Michael Carrick into trouble by miscuing a routine clearance horribly under no pressure during the first half. Uncertain distribution was a feature of his debut last weekend, too.
That apart, though, the goalkeeper was largely an onlooker as Villa’s attempts to turn the United back four round by playing long through balls towards Scott Sinclair and Gabriel Agbonlahor failed rather dismally on the whole. Undoubtedly this is an increasingly athletic and physically formidable United team. A few seasons ago the great Bobby Charlton told this newspaper that the physicality of the emerging Manchester City worried him.
Subsequent purchases of Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and the emergence of Adnan Januzaj did little to help that but Van Gaal’s squad, bolstered now by Morgan Schneiderlin, Matteo Darmian, and Bastian Schweinsteiger, suddenly carries a greater menace and it can only help them during a season that will feature, all being well, a return to Champions League football and the extra workload that brings.
United looked secure enough, scoring a nicely- crafted goal through Januzaj and rarely looking as though they would be reeled back in. The young Belgian played well enough in the No10 role until he was mysteriously withdrawn in the second half. Mata contributed some artistic touches, including the pass for the goal and another that Memphis Depay should have converted when clear with 15 minutes left. The contribution of Depay and indeed of his captain Wayne Rooney last night were notably rather modest.
Depay was moved to his more familiar position wide on the left to accommodate Januzaj but produced a display as underwhelming as on his debut. It will be interesting to see if it is the young Dutchman or his replacement with 10 minutes left, Ashley Young, who gets the nod against Bruges in European qualifying on Tuesday.
As for Rooney, his promise to score the 20-plus goals his team will need from him this season rings a little hollow after another indifferent display. For all their attempts to recruit Pedro from Barcelona, United’ s belief that they can forge a successful year with only Rooney as a recognisable and world-class centre forward would appear to be based on a logic that nobody else is capable of seeing.
After 180 minutes of football, Rooney is yet to have a serious attempt on goal and if this isn’t troubling Van Gaal then maybe it should be. As we said, though, a manager’s life is rather simple when he is winning. For now at least, Van Gaal can ignore all the background noise.