With United and City both crashing out of the Champions League in midweek, it became evident that they still have a lot of work to do to assert any sort of dominance in European club football. Manchester City appear to have a decent stranglehold on the Premier League, and United have also performed pretty well domestically so far, but they seem to share common ground in what they lack to take them to the next level. The problem appears to lie in central midfield, with a lack of world-class midfield playmakers in the Premiership, and becomes evermore apparent in the Champions League.
For all the money they have spent on attacking talent so far, Manchester City still haven’t really filled a gap in the defensive midfield position. We’re not talking about the ball winning, tackling type midfielder like de Jong or what Yaya Toure has done in the past, but the deep-lying playmaker that can initiate attacks and dictate the tempo of the game. Gareth Barry looked like he had the potential to fit into this role somewhat at the start of the season, but doesn’t have the quality and confidence to really have the sort of impact required.
They rely a lot on the movement and technical ability of the frontmen and attacking midfielders to orchestrate attacks and often appear to lack that bit of forward thinking movement when they have the ball inside their own half. City may become easier to play against because opposition teams will soon realise that despite their numbers and presence in midfield, they aren’t all going to pose an attacking threat. The opponents don’t have the need to press high up the pitch and potentially leave themselves exposed by being dragged out into unnecessary midfield battles.
United are arguably weak in central midfield as it is, particularly without Cleverley, and seem to struggle to move the ball around that area of the pitch with any conviction. As we saw against Basel, they had the majority of possession and even had some room to manoeuvre the ball around at times, but never really looked like having the spark to open up the opposition defence. Basel had a strategy and stuck to it well, forcing United quite narrow and applying pressure when they got near the penalty area. United on the other hand just didn’t have the quality to be able to turn defence into attack in an effective manor when they won the ball in their own half, which would have seemed a suitable method to counter the Swiss side’s approach.
When you look at successful teams in the Champions League in recent years, many of them rely on being strong in all areas, including having the ability to start attacks from almost anywhere on the pitch when the opportunity arises. The two top Spanish sides are an obvious example at the moment with Xabi Alonso for Real Madrid and the Ballon d’Or nominee Xavi for Barcelona. They both provide that exit ball from defence which can switch the run of play in an instant.
Pirlo is another obvious one that springs to mind. But there are other good deep-lying playmakers out there who have done so much for their team, examples including Marek Hamsik, Nuri Sahin and Luka Modric who have all played the position amongst others. However, it’s not the sort of role where an average player can come into a world-class team and look good, it’s a position which has to be occupied by someone with a range of technical skill and experience at the top level.
For the remainder of this season, Manchester City appear to be comfortable with what they have and are still riding the wave so to speak, as they continue on course for the Premier League title. United on the other hand may be finding themselves acting more quickly if they are to reach their ambitions this season, and should be seriously thinking about making a move in the January transfer market. Even so, if either side wants to mount a serious challenge for the Champions League next season, they will need to improve to match the qualities of Europe’s elite.
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