Huddersfield 0 - 2 United
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| Very good display from Romelu Photo: MEN |
I am not sure what to think about
the performance as I thought we sat too deep and looked a bit disjointed at
times but then again, we won the game and progressed to the next round at that’s
what matters. The last time we played here, we destroyed Huddlesfield with a
lot of possession and what did we get? Nothing. We lost 2-1. So if sitting deep was Mourinho’s plan, then
job well done. Was it entertaining? No. Was is effective? Yes. It seems
Mourinho, and this current team, find it very difficult to get a mixture entertainment and effectiveness.
There were too many players who
looked off today. Our best players were Mata and, without a shadow of a doubt,
Romelu Lukaku. All others disappointed me far too often during the game. This
was also Alexis’ most quiet performance in a United shirt, despite managing to
brilliantly assist Lukaku for our second.
For those who just looked at the
result, it looked like United had a routine victory but it most definitely wasn’t.
The game was also characterised by VAR and the hilarious lines that appeared on
TV to justify the VAR decision. A kindergarten student would have drawn
straighter lines. I am also not entirely sure whether the decision taken,
ruling out Mata’s goal, was the correct one. But there’s no use talking about
it now.
What is worrying is the time it
takes for a decision to be taken. Just imagine, you score the equalising goal
on the 90th minute. Usually, momentum would be with you and you’d
use injury time to press for a winner. But what if there’s something in the
goal scored that needs the interference of the VAR? The ref would then wait for
2 – 4 minutes for a decision by the guy looking at the VAR screens and
that would most probably kill the equalising team's momentum.
Imagine if, in 1999 CL final, Teddy Sheringham’s goal was analysed
using VAR and the ref spent minutes to take a decision. Momentum would have
probably been killed and there would most probably have never been an Ole
Gunner Solskjaer winner…. Then again, imagine you’re winning a Champions League
final and the opposition scores an offside goal – you’d definitely want the
interference of VAR to get the fair decision. So I do agree with VAR but a
decision needs to be taken in 30 seconds max. Before there’s the technology to
get a very quick, right, decision, VAR should not be used.
Seville next.
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