After the final whistle, you got the sense that this was more than just a mere loss on a tough road trip.
United’s disastrous capitulation in Europe could derail their season and may well permanently tarnish Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United legacy.
Increasing numbers of fans had been growing restless as United continue to play controlling but overly cautious football. The lack of chances but more pertinently the lack of goals has transformed United, a side that was for a long time one of the most watchable in Europe, into a dull and only occasionally effective machine.
The length of the Premier League season can often paper over these cracks. All teams inevitably go through patches. Sometimes the goals flow with effortless abandon, sometimes they are shipped in at the other end and at others despite a solid performance from the team, the goals just do not materialise. This has often been van Gaal’s refrain. The performance was good, all that was lacking was a goal. The time to question this rhetoric has surely arrived.
Disappointing cup displays have become all too common in the van Gaal era going back to his first season in charge. This season’s League Cup loss to Middlesbrough was surely an early warning sign. One-hundred-and-twenty goal-less minutes against a Championship side is hardly fitting for a club of United’s stature. However, on that occasion the increasing irrelevance of the competition stepped in to to save van Gaal and his men their considerable blushes.
Champions League qualification on the other hand was non-negotiable. Gifted a relatively uncomplicated group, United and van Gaal could have no complaints. Their opening matchday loss in Eindhoven could perhaps be forgiven due to the horrific injury to Luke Shaw. In another era, the United side may have risen to redeem their fallen team mate but this side looked visibly and perhaps understandably rattled by the brutal injury to a popular and up and coming squad member.
In any case, the Red Devils responded with a crucial victory at home to Wolfsburg on the next matchday followed by a handy 1-1 draw with CSKA in Moscow and a vital, if wholly unconvincing, 1-0 win over the Russians at Old Trafford.
Van Gaal’s failure to put PSV to the sword at Old Trafford has rightly cost United their place in the knockout stages. Once upon a time, such a fixture would have presented Alex Ferguson with a chance to showcase his unparalleled knack to pull out a brilliant result at just the right time. But those days are gone, United fans must live in their new reality. Instead of a thumping victory to secure qualification, the Red Devils had to settle for a dour 0-0, meaning they would have to secure an increasingly unlikely win on the road in Germany on matchday six. It was not to be, but it is clear nonetheless where it all went wrong.
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The result is irredeemable. Van Gaal might have to win the league and/or the FA Cup to save this season for United. The Europa League will shape as more of a headache than source of joy for United fans. In this kind of form it is hard to see United causing much of a stir in the competition. It will stretch their already thin squad even tighter. United finished the clash in Germany with Guillermo Varela and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson in the full-back positions. Once upon a time, such faith in youth would have been a cause for optimism. Now it is a sign of how far United have fallen.
As we approach the midpoint in Louis van Gaal’s three year stint in Manchester, the jury is still very much out. After Tuesday night’s horror show in Germany, the balance may have taken a decisive swing in the wrong direction.
Van Gaal still has the time and experience to turn this around but he will quickly need to conjure up results and more importantly goals to get an increasingly frustrated and sceptical supporter base back onside.
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