5 things Manchester United must do to beat Liverpool in the Europa League
Manchester United were comfortably defeated by Liverpool in the first legManchester United's Europa League campaign began with a humbling loss to lowly Midtjylland - prompting observers around the globe to issue a death sentence for his United tenure. In the reverse fixture at Old Trafford, Van Gaal's men crushed the minnows with a ruthless, barnstorming five-goal performance.While Liverpool are a much stronger side, especially with Jurgen Klopp at the helm, Van Gaal will be expecting his charges to bring the same mentality home.Having begun the tie with an insipid, flimsy away performance to hand an energetic Liverpool a 2-0 victory, United fans may fear the worst. While the scoreline does flatter them, the Amazing Spi-De-Gea-man prevented the Scousers from running away with the tie. Let's take a look at five key issues the Red Devils will address as they plot to hand their bitter Liverpudlian rivals a nasty, nasty upset.
#5 Play Fellaini - Off the bench
When you look at Louis van Gaal's track record, his talk of a philosophy might no sound so far-fetched. It's when he makes statements like this that you begin to doubt if he really has one at all - especially given the truth.
While some will dismiss it as needless criticism of the Belgian, the stats don't lie: with Fellaini on the pitch, United's win percentage is a shocking 34.6%. Without him, it jumps to 68.4%. Though this might suggest that Fellaini is often picked for big games, it still implies that he’s not doing well enough in them.
At Anfield, he lost the ball 20 times – the highest in the game. He only managed a single successful tackle and won less than half of his duels. He is simply not a midfield shield, and his passing range leaves much to be desired.
Marouane Fellaini is far from a bad player, though, and his qualities have often been United's saving grace in this murky post-Ferguson era. His aerial ability is exceptional and his physicality is very useful for breaking up play when defending - but that's not United's goal is in this game.
They need speed, skill and piercing runs. Fellaini can provide none of those. The big Belgian will, however, surely become a necessity in this tie if United find themselves chasing a single goal, as his unique attributes make him a potent weapon for adherents to route one football. And fans of Jimi Hendrix!
Fellaini was lucky to escape a ban for an elbow on Emre Can, which may dismay skeptical United fans but may serve as a weapon-of-mass-disruption off the bench!