Despite
the resounding win over Aston Villa, Manchester United’s performance all season
has got manager David Moyes still reeling from supporters’ backlash – to a
point where the infamous flying banner was used to express their feeling. This
is not a good sign and now against Bayern Munich – United faces one of the
biggest games at Old Trafford ever since last year’s match against Real Madrid.
How
Moyes approach this game will give enough indication to what he will be facing
in the coming weeks. Traditionally in the home leg of the Champions League
knockout stages teams generally play a more ‘daring’ approach and try to come
out with a win and then defend their advantage in the away leg. But Moyes had
prove so far that when facing a more ‘superior’ (confident) attacking team, he
tends to goes back to his Everton style – a more compact and defensive team
line-ups. This is where Moyes may just shoot himself in the foot. Bayern –
given their stature now – will punish a proven error-prone United team. As such
most United fans would agree this is where Moyes cannot afford to play timid
and instead go all out from the minutes the game starts. No matter how good
Bayern can be, they are also humans and can be rattle. And looking back at the
history of this two teams prove that this will be one of the greatest
quarterfinal matchup in recent Champions League matches, if United starting XI
does not ‘fold’ by kickoff.
Given
Robin Van Persie and Juan Mata’s unavailability United must surely starts with
Wayne Rooney and Shinji Kagawa upfront, with Danny Welbeck and Antonio Valencia
on the flanks. Ryan Giggs will surely start alongside Michael Carrick (if
Carrick is not require to do defensive duties). The sight of 40 years old Giggs
starting however brings some dilemma to most United fans, some would think that
Giggs is saved for this game and will surely be fire up to help United getting
a good results. However it is still considered a worrying sight (despite Giggs’
legendary status) that United is so dependent on him. Even in Sir Alex
Ferguson’s final few seasons, a good performance from Giggs (and Paul Scholes)
too gave some United fans a good cause for concerns – the dependencies on these
two highlight the fact that United has no replacement for them.
From
the forwards to the midfield and especially defense, United is facing selection
issues. None of these players (with the exception of newly contracted Wayne
Rooney) have shown any consistencies all season. It is Moyes’ job to make sure
the players are all fire up – just in time before the kick off, if there is any
chance of a good result against the currently impressive Bayern Munich. As
mentioned before, stranger things have happen in the Champions League – this
season could be United’s season to grab that honour. Forget about the fact that
winning the Champions League allows United to be in the tournament next season,
at least put some hopes for United’s supporters in a disastrous season by
playing some great football!