Pep Guardiola says their quality is incredible and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists they are going to get there in the end so how good are Manchester United really? It is not an easy question to answer, writes Adam Bate from the Etihad Stadium.
Thursday 30 January 2020 17:01, UK
It was in the press conference after the first leg at Old Trafford that the memory of March in Paris was evoked. The only surprise was that it was Pep Guardiola not Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who did so. "It is not done," said Guardiola. "Last season they lost 2-0 against PSG and then they went to France and qualified… This is Manchester United."
It sounded like classic Guardiola pessimism of the sort that had him talking about City finishing eighth in the Premier League earlier this month, but the fears for his club's place in the Carabao Cup final felt real for much of their one-goal defeat at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night. City progressed 3-2 on aggregate but United gave them a scare.
"It is a strange feeling going out and still being so proud," said Solskjaer afterwards. "I want to talk about the players and the attitude they are showing and how far they have come. They have come here twice in six weeks and beaten Manchester City. It is difficult enough to beat them twice in ten years and we have beaten them twice in six weeks."
The template for the plan had indeed been established last month when Solskjaer's side inflicted a 2-1 home defeat on City. The Norwegian has now become the first manager to get the better of Guardiola twice at the Etihad Stadium. For all the criticism that has come his way, he has shown that he can find a way against some of the strongest sides.
There was nothing particularly new here. This is what Solskjaer's United can do well - sitting in with a back five and making sporadic raids forward. This guerrilla warfare might seem at odds with the club's status as a superpower but it is not without its merits and if Nemanja Matic had not been sent off in the second half it might even have been enough.
All of which raises the tricky question of just how good Manchester United actually are. Should they be aspiring for more than counter-punches and spirited exits or is this the sum of their ambition? Is Solskjaer holding them back or is he making the most what he has been given to work with by the club's owners and their much-maligned executive vice-chairman?
The answer is not simple and all over the pitch there were examples of why. David de Gea's form has been under scrutiny for some time but he was magnificent on the night - the best goalkeeper in the world on this form, said Solskjaer. Aaron Wan-Bissaka continues to look uncertain when going forwards but he dealt with Raheem Sterling as well as anyone has.
With a fee in excess of £50m, Fred had been held up as an example of United's poor transfer business but he was excellent again, just as he had been at Liverpool recently. Matic has looked past his best for a while but he scored the game's only goal with a sweet strike and, according to his manager, was the best player on the pitch until his red card.
On the one hand, there has been a lack of investment. On the other, there's a centre-back partnership out there that cost more than £100m and an exciting new Portuguese midfielder about to be signed. On the one hand, there's talk of a paucity of talent. On the other, there is hope that Brandon Williams and Mason Greenwood can become superstars.
Still there's the suspicion that Solskjaer is short of what he needs and moments like the free-kick that came United's way late on add weight to that theory. It was a one-kick game at that point with a shootout looming if United could find a way past the ever shaky Claudio Bravo. Had they had someone like Kevin De Bruyne it would have reeked of a goal.
Instead it was Fred and Andreas Pereira stood over the ball for United and it was the former who proceeded to fire the ball into the City wall. While it was curious that Juan Mata appeared to want nothing to do with the free-kick, wasn't it also a clue that the quality is just not there within the Manchester United ranks? Not so, says Guardiola.
The subject of United's abilities came up when the Manchester City coach volunteered his thoughts on the recent attack on Ed Woodward's home and he quickly segued onto that much-discussed matter of the club's recruitment. "It is about the players and the players of United are really good, believe me, really good," argued Guardiola.
"I said when we lost here [in December], they don't need much. The quality of players up front is incredible. I have the feeling that they are trying to do what the manager Ole wants and I think it works. Maybe they are not consistent in all the games, maybe at home they struggle against the teams that defend deep, but I like the way they play.
"The quality of Victor Lindelof, I saw it at Benfica. Luke Shaw is an incredibly talent player, Harry Maguire, we are talking about one of the best central defenders in the world. The people up front are so fast, Matic and Fred are incredible players. Matic is an outstanding player. So if you give them time, they will come back to what United was for many years."
Time. That is what Solskjaer is after and when he is at his most bullish, as was the case in the press conference after the game, he speaks with real conviction that Manchester United are close to something special if only the supporters are able to retain the faith. He believes in this team and that the good times are going to return to the club. Just wait.
"We know that it is going to be inconsistent this season and while we are building but it shows how good we can be and how good these boys can become," he said. "Yes, we want to eradicate the defeats but I think everyone who is watching us knows what we are trying to do, they see what we are trying to do, and we will get there."
But there is a danger in the waiting game. Football is cyclical, that's true. Tides do turn. But this is not the moon and it will not happen naturally. United need to make it happen. Liverpool's 30-year wait for a trophy, one that now seems certain to come to an end this season, could have become 50 years without the right plan and the right people in place.
Solskjaer has shown that he can put out a team that plays with "attitude and character" but are there really signs of the attacking patterns in the final third that suggest United are capable of evolving into a side that can dominate the biggest games? "We were poor at times in the quality with the ball," he acknowledged. "The quality wasn't great."
Where is that quality going to come from? Bruno Fernandes will help with his ability to create. So will Paul Pogba. That was an obvious failing against City. "We pegged them back at times and played them deep at times," said Solskjaer. "They stayed on the edge of their box and defended but we didn't create those chances, those moments."
But they need more of a box threat too. Solskjaer did not mention Anthony Martial by name but he was desperately poor at the Etihad and it was difficult not to think that the talk of the need for a striker was a pointed reference to his apparent lack of appetite in front of goal.
"We need more goalscorers, we need more goals, that's a definite," Solskjaer added. "We need someone who wants to break a nose or a toe to score a goal. It doesn't have to just be the nice ones. We know that. I am challenging them and I need to challenge them more because we cannot just score nice goals.
"I will never accept players not wanting to score easy goals because they are easy goals when you stay in the box and make the right movements. So we are going to work and work and work until we get it done. We are going to get there, no doubt, because these players want to learn. They have improved so much."
Not quite enough to pull off a famous comeback. Not this time. But enough to earn the applause of the travelling support who chanted their manager's name upon the final whistle. Pride intact. Hope remaining that there will be better times soon to come. And the thorny question of Manchester United's true capabilities still left unresolved.
