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Wayne Rooney ended his goal drought with a hat-trick to help secure Manchester United’s place in the draw for the UEFA Champions League group stages with a 4-0 victory over Club Brugge. Leading 3-1 from the first leg, Rooney scored the opener in the first half with a delicate dink over the goalkeeper. He doubled his tally with a tap-in four minutes into the second half and completed only his second Champions League hat-trick with another composed finish.Ander Herrera, who started for the first time this season, made it four and although Javier Hernandez missed a penalty and a tap-in, the Red Devils still cruised to a comfortable victory in Belgium, their biggest away win under Louis Van Gaal.Here are the major talking points from the game.
#1 Wayne Rooney silences his critics
There are few people that polarise opinion as much as Rooney does. Often criticised for not being as good as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, the striker showed just why he is closing in on Bobby Charlton’s goal scoring record for both club and country.
His eighth hat-trick for the club ended a run of 10 games without a goal and eased his side into the group stages. Although Rooney has by no means had a bad start to the season, the outcry for another striker, both from the press and the fans has been surprising.
The composure with which he took all three of his goals and even his disallowed goal against Newcastle on Saturday showed that it was only a matter of when and not if the next goal comes. As is often the case with strikers, when it rains, it pours. And with that treble, the 29-year-old moved to within four goals of becoming the club’s second-highest goalscorer.
#2 Manchester United still need another striker
Rooney might be back among the goals, but the performance of Javier Hernandez both at the weekend and against Brugge suggests that United still need another striker. If not one to replace Rooney, but at least another striker to support him.
The Mexican striker, who has returned from his loan spell this summer, is yet to reach the heights he hit in his opening two seasons with the club. It was not just the fact that Hernandez slipped while taking his penalty and missed or that he blasted the ball over the bar from within the six-yard box with the goal gaping, but also his inability to hold on to the ball.
For someone who is renowned for his finishing, to miss two easy chances against a tiring defence and display a lack of composure in front of goal for the second consecutive game is worrying.
#3 No miracle for Brugge
Before the game, Brugge coach Michel Preud'homme said his side needed a “great miracle” to go through to the group stages. Unfortunately for the fanatical home support, that never happened as they succumbed to a demoralising defeat.
While United were clearly the better side over two legs, the 7-1 aggregate is flattering and doesn’t do Brugge justice. Had the Belgian side taken their chances in the first leg, when the tie was still in the balance, and in the first half of this game to give themselves a lifeline before going into the break, it could have been a different story.
Yet, they can walk away from this tie with a sense of pride because not only did they give a side that is yet to concede a goal in the league plenty of problems defensively, but also did so, without several key players out injured or suspended, including their inspirational captain.
#4 Manchester United\'s defence still has cracks
Even though no opposition player has scored against United this season and the side have kept four clean sheets out of five, the defence isn’t as good as those numbers suggest. While the pairing of Daley Blind and Chris Smalling makes a lot of sense and has worked well so far, both players have deficiencies that were clearly targeted by Brugge.
Another area that will worry Van Gaal is the positional sense of his defenders. Far too often, either Luke Shaw or Blind went too high up the pitch to pinch the ball. And although they were successful on most occasions, they still left a huge gap that could be exploited by a better side.
Herrera wasn’t defensively solid and in the bigger games, the Dutchman will have to set up more cautiously and drill the defence a lot better, if they are to walk away with a clean sheet.
#5 How far can Manchester United go in the Champions League?
Being out of the Champions League for even just a single season can have a huge impact on a club, even one as big and as successful as Manchester United. Now that they are back, the question many will be asking is, how far can they go and not if they can win it.
And that is not just because they don’t have the necessary players to win it, but because there is now a clear pecking order when it comes to the established elite in Europe. Even with all the money that the Red Devils have spent, they are no closer to winning the Champions League than they were the last time they played in it.
The trio of Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid have all but sewn up three of the four semi-final slots in recent years and if United are to get anywhere near the semis, they need the luck of the draw, not just in the knockout stages, but also for the group stages.
