It was, albeit briefly, like old times. Steve McClaren spent a couple of minutes in the home technical area at Old Trafford, urging and organising, cajoling and reconfiguring. Then he remembered he is Newcastle United’s manager and not Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant and retreated to the visitors’ dugout. As McClaren’s resolute charges prevented Manchester United from scoring, his impromptu comeback prompted thoughts of a more productive era.
While Louis van Gaal’s side have struck only twice in three league games, McClaren’s first campaign at United culminated in their third- and fourth-choice strikers deciding the 1999 Champions League final. Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored 76 goals between them that season. Van Gaal’s United mustered only 73 in all competitions last year.
Ferguson preferred to perm from four finishers. Van Gaal claims to have more choices. When asked if he should buy a striker, he argued he had five. If the class of 99 was a fearsome foursome, the danger is that James Wilson, Adnan Januzaj, Marouane Fellaini, Javier Hernández and Wayne Rooney become an infamous five.
“I have a lot of options,” Van Gaal said, although quantity is no guarantee of quality. “I have chosen Chicharito [Hernández], because he is another type from Rooney, and Fellaini, who is another type, then I have Wilson and Januzaj, so I don’t think we need a striker.”
Yet two are youngsters, one a midfielder and another a serial substitute, while Rooney, whose United drought dates back 858 minutes, represents an increasingly blunt spearhead. “He does what the striker has to do in our system,” Van Gaal said, implying the job description does not entail scoring.
That Hernández, his fifth-choice forward 12 months ago, is Rooney’s deputy suggests Van Gaal, despite spending £230m, has reduced United’s firepower. Yet the Mexican’s sharpness in cameos has been notable, hinting he may reclaim the tag of United’s modern-day Solskjaer, and provided a contrast with the toiling Rooney.
A supportive McClaren, his former England manager, said: “He’s very mentally strong. Just look at his record.”
It encompasses 230 United goals; Van Gaal felt a 231st was wrongly disallowed but the Rooney of old had the pace to make rampaging runs. The current variant operates in slow motion. So do United at times.
Van Gaal argued it would take a superstar to displace him. “If he is the best striker in the world then, yes, we need him, but if he cannot contribute in our eyes, then we won’t buy any striker. But if he does, we shall buy.”
Such players are rarely available in the transfer window’s last week and it has seldom been the United way to buy the best in the world. They are scarred by recent attempts. Retail therapy has not proved soothing, as Van Gaal said. “[Radamel] Falcao and [Ángel] Di María: great players, but they have to adapt to the culture of Manchester United.”
Something appeared rotten in the culture of Newcastle United last season. The hope is that this result signifies a welcome renewal. “It was a big step forward,” McClaren said. “The defending was heroic.”
Man of the match Steven Taylor (Newcastle United)
