Deep in the bowels of the MCG, minutes after Manchester United had beaten Melbourne Victory by a rather flattering 4-1 scoreline, Chris Ikonomidis stood chatting with Harry Maguire.
There was an ease and apparent respect between the England captain and the Melbourne Victory forward, one borne of the preceding 90 minutes when the A-League team showed a cohesion, spirit and composure that its rather more vaunted opponents might not have expected.
In the end the Premier League side deserved to prevail, on weight of possession alone, but not by much. Two of their goals were highly fortunate; their new coach Erik ten Hag isn’t much given to smiling but still watched the first half with a look on his face that suggested he wasn’t so much chewing a wasp as the whole nest.
With more than 74,000 fans in the MCG, and the vast bulk clad in the red of United, it was meant to be a procession. When Victory scored, just five minutes in, most of the crowd looked more confused than alarmed; the small collection of Victory supporters revelled in it, for good reason.
After all it had taken their side about 14 seconds, and six passes, to provide any watching EPL team with a blueprint of how to break United down – as well as give Ten Hag some X-rated viewing to watch late into the night.
It was, by any standard and from any team, a glorious goal – carrying the ball from one goal to the other with United players just bystanders as it barely left the turf. From the start Victory were keen to play out from goalkicks and goalkeeping possession, especially via Roderick Miranda’s confidence in stepping out with the ball.
Paul Izzo considered various options before rolling his goalkick sideways to Leigh Broxham who transferred it the short distance to Jay Barnett at right wingback. Suddenly Victory burst forward, as Barnett – who three weeks ago was playing NPL3 in Victoria – moved the ball inside to Josh Brillante, cleverly dropping into midfield space, and moved forward up the line for the return.
With that simple triangle Victory turned United, leaving key players out of position and the wrong side of their man. This was from a goalkick, remember, not the confusion of transition from a United attack breaking down.
As Barnett took the ball in his stride and advanced down the touchline, ahead of him Ben Folami himself turned and sprinted down the same channel, while Ikonomidis gave Maguire a headstart of several metres through the centre and still quickly moved past him.
The conversion of the chance was ruthless, Folami firing a pass across the box first time, and Ikonomidis striking the ball from near the penalty spot unerringly into the bottom corner.
The details of the goal are important, and alarming for Ten Hag – to see his captain, an England stalwart, left in the wake of Ikonomidis was bad enough, but structurally a team with Champions League aspirations should not be cut asunder so simply from a standing start. Ten Hag’s first competitive game comes in just 23 days; Victory’s is at least three times as far away, and it was blindingly obvious which of the United boss and Tony Popovic would be more satisfied with this night as a marker of progress.
In anything, Popovic might have rued the wastefulness in attack his team showed in the second half, failing to press home several promising situations after United – whose entire outfield team changed at halftime – were guilty of wanton carelessness in possession.
By then the pressure had come off those in red shirts thanks to two goals in the dying seconds of the first half – the first of which involved a huge stroke of fortune. Victory’s determination to play their way out of defence was laudable and easy on the eye, but it comes – especially at this early stage of development – with obvious risks. So George Timotheou’s misplaced pass on the edge of his own box shouldn’t earn him too much criticism, even though it gave Scott McTominay the room for a shot that took a horrendous deflection and lopped over Paul Izzo.
There were flashes of quality from United going forward, especially when Jadon Sancho came off the touchline and drove at Victory’s defence. Ten Hag’s revolution will surely have to involve an integral role for the England winger, who looked uncomfortable and confused last year but has so much ability in tight spaces.
Anthony Martial’s goal in the single minute of first half stoppage time, a controlled finish in the box, will be a fillip for his confidence too. And after the talk from Marcus Rashford of getting a fresh start under Ten Hag, there was pleasure to be had in seeing him race clear and onto Eric Bailly’s through ball, then guide the ball past Izzo for United’s third with aplomb.
It was cruel luck on young Victory defender Edmond Lupancu to turn a cross in for United’s fourth, but the scoreline was hardly reflective. United have a lot of work to do in a short space of time, but Victory already look like they are ready to build on last season.
