Last Updated: Tuesday 08 June 1999 14:05
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| Features > The Patrick Barclay Column |
'Why I Fear For Manchester United On Wednesday'
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MANY years ago, when relatively new to the business of trying to make sense of football, I happened to be on Tyneside and was foolish enough to venture an opinion within the earshot of Doug Weatherall, the doyen of that region's soccer scribes.
"The match will be won and lost in midfield," I chirped. Doug snorted. "Matches," he scathingly explained, "are won by forwards scoring goals and lost by defenders giving them away."
I don't think I have ever used the word 'midfield' since without weighing it against Doug's advice. But on this occasion, the day of Manchester United's European Cup Final against Bayern Munich, a suspicion that the central area will be crucial to the outcome is shared by some decent judges. Among them is Didi Hamann, the midfielder who left Bayern for Newcastle a year ago and who, last Saturday, had a painful taste of the men from Manchester when they swept aside his current club at Wembley.
The loss of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, both suspended, was bound to hurt United according to Hamann, even though they have capable replacements in Nicky Butt and, perhaps, Ronny Johnsen. Keane and Scholes were a "world-class combination".
While Keane's injury split United on Saturday, David Beckham moving inside to demonstrate the full and considerable range of his talents, Alex Ferguson is likely to send Beckham back to the flank in the Nou Camp. And in any case, few conclusions could be drawn from a cup final that the Old Trafford side always knew would be less testing, both physically and tactically, than their summit meeting with the new German champions.
And it's where United have been weakened that Bayern are potentially at their strongest, for Ottmar Hitzfeld's general is the matured enfant terrible of the German game, Steffen Effenberg, whose marvellous technique is complemented by the industry of Jens Jeremies. Here is a midfield of great ability and immense power, the kind United would have enjoyed had Keane and Scholes been available.
Now, even if they manage to get a grip on affairs at the back, I wonder whether United will find it difficult to maintain their usual lines of supply to the front pairing of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, whom Bayern and their 38-year-old sweeper Lothar Matthaus genuinely fear.
In a match as hard to predict as this one, which follows two draws between the clubs in the group stages, such factors can make all the difference.
With due deference to Mr Weatherall, it is my main worry on Manchester United's behalf. They needed captain Keane to quell Juventus in the semi-finals, which the Irishman did to such magnificent effect but with such a heavy personal cost. I fear they will miss him now. |
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