United still can’t afford to let up

It was billed as the crunch game for Manchester United, a match that could define a season, if not even an era.

There have been plenty of those in the past, of course, but over the last 20 years or so of serial success, crunch games for United have tended to involve the hunt for domestic and European titles, the pursuit of doubles and even trebles.

This was different. This was crunch as it’s more usually applied to a relegation six-pointer – the painful squeeze felt by a manager and his team when they’re between a rock and hard place, rather than first and second.

For a team so low in confidence, last night’s stirring 3-0 win over Olympiacos should be just what the doctor ordered. But such has been the steep decline in the club’s fortunes since the departure of Alex Ferguson, few will see in this victory reasons for optimism United will still be standing tall in Europe after the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Instead, the strong temptation is to regard the result as a dead cat bounce, a stay of execution before much stronger opponents than the Greek champions get a chance to expose United’s still glaring limitations.

But for at least one night, the home side gave its supporters reason to believe, and only the most hard-hearted ABU will begrudge David Moyes the joy he must have felt at the final whistle.

The final scoreline might suggest the win was comprehensive but the collective gasp which greeted the addition of five minutes of injury time revealed the terror never far below the surface at Old Trafford, even after United had created the ideal platform for the desired result in the first half.

With the bruised and bruising Antonio Valencia supplying warrior spirit and Danny Welbeck offering the kind of incisive runs so conspicuous by their absence in United’s woeful performance against Liverpool, the first 45 went just about as well as the Stretford End could have hoped for — especially given that it could just as easily have gone a whole lot worse.

In between the two Robin van Persie goals which levelled up the tie at the break, David De Gea made a double save that was no less vital to the ultimate success of United’s comeback effort. By the end of the night RVP might have been the game’s MVP but the goalkeeper ran him a close second.

Ryan Giggs, playing a quarterback’s role with his booming diagonal passes, was the instigator of United’s first two goals but it tells you something about the paucity of real quality in the team’s midfield that Moyes had to turn to the grand old man of English football in United’s hour of need. The concern must be that while the wonderful Giggs pulled the strings last night, next time round the 40 year old could just as easily pull his hamstring.

Generous goalkeeping helped van Persie to his hat-trick from a free kick but, with glory now in sight, United still had to be mindful of the terminal damage an away goal for Olympiacos would cause, as the Greeks showed spasms of panache on the counter.

Understandably then, there was plenty of anxiety bouncing back and forth between the pitch and the stands before the referee’s whistle finally signalled sweet relief for the manager.

So a memorable night at Old Trafford but not necessarily one destined to live long in the memory. Despite last night’s heroics — with a faint echo of a famous win against Barcelona in 1984 — the disconnect between the current state of the club and its storied past remains acute.

United did it the hard way against Olympiacos and credit to them for that. But if Moyes is to ride out the storm and set United back on course, it will take a comeback against the odds to rival that unforgettable night in Barcelona in 1999.

For the manager and his players, they’re all crunch games now.