Manchester United vs PSV Eindhoven match report: Toothless performance leaves Champions League hopes in the balance

The fantasy had Manchester United heading to Germany in a fortnight with Champions League qualification decided. It was hoped a draw in Wolfsburg would be enough to secure the group. Now a win might be needed just to qualify.

This was one long sprint into a brick wall. United did not lack pluck, energy or effort. What they could not conjure against resolute opposition was that drop of magic and guile that sets the best apart.

So committed were they to the idea of winning they might easily have lost. PSV are no Barcelona but they are alert to opportunity, and United offered plenty in a gung-ho finale that left gaping holes at the back.

There were some pluses for United in the improving form of Jesse Lingard and, on occasion, Anthony Martial, but the sense remains of a team no nearer connecting with its rampaging past. PSV offered organisation and industry but would not have lasted five minutes in the company of Barcelona or Bayern Munich, which ultimately renders qualification almost pointless, since it brings with it not the prospect of victory but of a brutal reckoning.

The final whistle set forth a hail of boos around a frustrated Old Trafford. Louis van Gaal walked from the dugout clutching his oversized notebook. You can’t imagine it will have contained anything new. To his right the fans of PSV waved their scarves to celebrate a shot at the last 16 they thought they might never have. A home win against bottom side CSKA Moscow will see them through.

Van Gaal made four changes to the team that sneaked home via the side door at Watford last Saturday, bringing back Matteo Darmian to the right of defence, and partnering Wayne Rooney and Martial with Lingard and Memphis Depay in a notional front four. On paper this was a nod to the requirement for pace, at least in the legs of the latter trio.

Depay resumed his station on the left flank after his central plunder at Vicarage Road, surrendering the middle ground to Martial. With Lingard wide right, Van Gaal was at last responding to the demand for urgency from the start.

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Wolfsburg made their intentions clear before the action began in Manchester with a 2-0 victory at CSKA Moscow. Both goals came via the agency of André Schürrle.

Last night’s match coincided with the 10th anniversary of the premature death of George Best. The circumstances of his slow decline and eventual demise, ravaged by alcoholism, were of course tragic. There is nothing to celebrate in that, but at least the date allowed us to revisit the extraordinary talent through which this club learned to live again after the devastation of Munich.

The legend of Best remains as important to this club now as it was then, utterly central to its identity, especially on nights like this, for it was in the European theatre that United separated themselves from their English counterparts. It goes without saying that there has never been another remotely like him, and it makes the bones shudder to think he walked out of the Old Trafford door at 27 years of age, a year younger than Lionel Messi is now.

PSV were never going to blow the house down but, in a tight group, neither would they be handing out freebies. A draw would be more than useful for them with a home game to come against CSKA, already banished, and with Wolfsburg and United facing each other.

The early goal is desirable, failing that retaining composure is a must. The last thing United wanted was to convey a sense of panic. The opening period conformed to the established pattern at Old Trafford, United seeing plenty of the ball but little of the goal. Bastian Schweinsteiger had a pop from range, as did Depay. Both shots were cleanly hit and both picked out Jeroen Zoet in goal.

The first rising of the pulse came in the 20th minute when Lingard sent Darmian haring towards the touchline. His whipped cross narrowly avoided the outstretched boot of Rooney before being cleared for a corner. .

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Next up was Rooney, creating space down the profitable right channel. Martial stepped over his cross leaving Lingard to run on to the ball. Sadly, there was a literal aspect to the move with Lingard beating himself by knocking on unintentionally.

Primed to counter, Eindhoven did precisely that in the 33rd minute with Jorrit Hendrix forcing David De Gea to announce himself with a fine save. The visitors in the audience, never less than enthusiastic, celebrated as if it were a goal. It should have been at the other end when Martial was through on target. But yet again the keeper saved.

United were at PSV immediately after the break, Morgan Schneiderlin heading narrowly over the bar. Lingard flashed a header across goal from Martial’s cross. Depay bobbed and weaved into position before finding the keeper’s midriff. The Stretford End was all but sucking the ball in the net. But the biggest miss came from Lingard, who skied a half-volley in front of goal over the bar.

At the other end Luuk de Jong flashed a shot wide. Cue the Eindhoven chorus behind that goal. Along the touchline Marouane Fellaini and Ashley Young were being prepped to replace Schweinsteiger and Depay. Half an hour remained and the tension was rising. As is the custom at Old Trafford these days.