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CL: Semifinals first leg vs Arsenal
Manchester United marginally beat Arsenal at Old Trafford for the Semifinal first leg of the Champions League. O’Shea scored that important goal in the 17th minute; which came at the eve of his birthday.
Ferguson proposed a strong central midfield. The starting XI was: Van der Sar as goalkeeper; O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra as defenders; Anderson, Fletcher, Carrick and Cristiano as midfielders; Tévez and Rooney as forwards. That’s right! Tévez tantrum complaining that he will not even consider an offer from ManUtd if he does not play in important matches was very effective. Tévez did not disappoint, creating opportunities and space; chasing every cause. Dimitar began the match on the bench.
ManUtd controlled most of the match with plenty of opportunities although the Arsenal defense and goalkeeper were heroic. Cristiano terrorized a young Arsenal defender, which produced the best attempts. In the second half, he had a great chance from far away that hit the woodwork.
Arsenal had little impact forward and their attempts came from United’s errors. Fábregas was good with his passing and Adebayor was menacing but Fletcher, Carrick and Anderson were outstanding with their defensive and offensive duties. Just one thing: Anderson should never take the corner kicks. They were always at the other end of the field with no one to respond or jump high enough. We even saw Cristiano scolding him.
Giggs and Dimitar substituted Anderson and Tévez in the 66th minute, respectively. Those were tactical changes, often seen at the hour of play to have fresh legs. Tévez was very upset for his substitution; he shook his head for everyone to see. At that point he was not having a real impact as Rooney and Cristiano showed more effort.
Dimitar’s performance was regular. He lacks pace to run for the ball and create opportunities in counter attack. He had good touches that opened spaces but we saw him again leaning too much on the players behind him. He also took part in defending duties which prove his willingness. However I saw him getting back to his “lazy” routine.
Giggs put the ball in the back of the net only to be scrapped by an offside position. Ferdinand had a knock on his ribs which saw him leave the field in pain and promptly substituted by Evans in the 87th minute.
From ManUtd.com: “Dimitar Berbatov: Immediately tormented his former north London rivals following his introduction. Carlos Tevez: Always a fulcrum for United’s attacks in the first half. Harshly booked following a 50-50 with Manuel Almunia after 30 minutes. Wayne Rooney: A real danger down the left flank in the first half and was ready to shoot on sight, even if 50 yards out, as Alumnia discovered. Switched to the right side after the introduction of Giggs and gave young left-back Kieran Gibbs plenty to think about.”
From Manchester Evening News: “BERBATOV: A few nice touches and had a half-chance with a header 6. TEVEZ: Fergie preferrred the Argentine to Berbatov in his front three and he never let his manager down. Was never going to pull out when racing with Almunia for a loose ball and booked for his trouble. Unhappy to come off when substituted following decent performance 6. ROONEY: Did a fine job patrolling the touchline. Looping header forced brilliant one-handed save out of Almunia. Helped Evra out whenever Walcott got the ball, doubling up on the England winger 8.”
From Goal.com: “Berbatov 6.0: Did not make the same impact that Tevez did. Tevez -8.0: The best player on the park in the opening 45 minutes. Arsenal could not cope with his movement. Created a great chance for Ronaldo, but should have scored himself on 15 minutes. Rooney -7.0: Almost scored within 60 seconds, and put in a shift for the team. Not a trademark outing, and not as effective as Tevez and Ronaldo, but still a good showing.”
From The Sun: “BERBATOV 6: Caused a few problems. CARLOS TEVEZ: Preferred to Berbatov, much to the crowd’s delight. They prefer the whole-hearted displays of the Argentine to the subtle approach of the Bulgarian — but the Arsenal defence didn’t as Tevez buzzed around, never giving any peace. Deserved a goal but point-blank shot was saved. Booked 8. WAYNE ROONEY: Deployed wide on the left as he often is in Europe, he was a constant menace to the Arsenal back-line. He never stopped making himself available for the ball and his boundless energy allowed him to track back. At one stage he ran fully 50 yards to take the ball off Fabregas’ toes just in front of the United box 8”.
Read more about the match in,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8010847.stm
Man Utd 1-0 Arsenal
By Phil McNulty
Next match away on Saturday vs Middlesbrough for the Premier League.
Ferguson proposed a strong central midfield. The starting XI was: Van der Sar as goalkeeper; O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra as defenders; Anderson, Fletcher, Carrick and Cristiano as midfielders; Tévez and Rooney as forwards. That’s right! Tévez tantrum complaining that he will not even consider an offer from ManUtd if he does not play in important matches was very effective. Tévez did not disappoint, creating opportunities and space; chasing every cause. Dimitar began the match on the bench.
ManUtd controlled most of the match with plenty of opportunities although the Arsenal defense and goalkeeper were heroic. Cristiano terrorized a young Arsenal defender, which produced the best attempts. In the second half, he had a great chance from far away that hit the woodwork.
Arsenal had little impact forward and their attempts came from United’s errors. Fábregas was good with his passing and Adebayor was menacing but Fletcher, Carrick and Anderson were outstanding with their defensive and offensive duties. Just one thing: Anderson should never take the corner kicks. They were always at the other end of the field with no one to respond or jump high enough. We even saw Cristiano scolding him.
Giggs and Dimitar substituted Anderson and Tévez in the 66th minute, respectively. Those were tactical changes, often seen at the hour of play to have fresh legs. Tévez was very upset for his substitution; he shook his head for everyone to see. At that point he was not having a real impact as Rooney and Cristiano showed more effort.
Dimitar’s performance was regular. He lacks pace to run for the ball and create opportunities in counter attack. He had good touches that opened spaces but we saw him again leaning too much on the players behind him. He also took part in defending duties which prove his willingness. However I saw him getting back to his “lazy” routine.
Giggs put the ball in the back of the net only to be scrapped by an offside position. Ferdinand had a knock on his ribs which saw him leave the field in pain and promptly substituted by Evans in the 87th minute.
From ManUtd.com: “Dimitar Berbatov: Immediately tormented his former north London rivals following his introduction. Carlos Tevez: Always a fulcrum for United’s attacks in the first half. Harshly booked following a 50-50 with Manuel Almunia after 30 minutes. Wayne Rooney: A real danger down the left flank in the first half and was ready to shoot on sight, even if 50 yards out, as Alumnia discovered. Switched to the right side after the introduction of Giggs and gave young left-back Kieran Gibbs plenty to think about.”
From Manchester Evening News: “BERBATOV: A few nice touches and had a half-chance with a header 6. TEVEZ: Fergie preferrred the Argentine to Berbatov in his front three and he never let his manager down. Was never going to pull out when racing with Almunia for a loose ball and booked for his trouble. Unhappy to come off when substituted following decent performance 6. ROONEY: Did a fine job patrolling the touchline. Looping header forced brilliant one-handed save out of Almunia. Helped Evra out whenever Walcott got the ball, doubling up on the England winger 8.”
From Goal.com: “Berbatov 6.0: Did not make the same impact that Tevez did. Tevez -8.0: The best player on the park in the opening 45 minutes. Arsenal could not cope with his movement. Created a great chance for Ronaldo, but should have scored himself on 15 minutes. Rooney -7.0: Almost scored within 60 seconds, and put in a shift for the team. Not a trademark outing, and not as effective as Tevez and Ronaldo, but still a good showing.”
From The Sun: “BERBATOV 6: Caused a few problems. CARLOS TEVEZ: Preferred to Berbatov, much to the crowd’s delight. They prefer the whole-hearted displays of the Argentine to the subtle approach of the Bulgarian — but the Arsenal defence didn’t as Tevez buzzed around, never giving any peace. Deserved a goal but point-blank shot was saved. Booked 8. WAYNE ROONEY: Deployed wide on the left as he often is in Europe, he was a constant menace to the Arsenal back-line. He never stopped making himself available for the ball and his boundless energy allowed him to track back. At one stage he ran fully 50 yards to take the ball off Fabregas’ toes just in front of the United box 8”.
Read more about the match in,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8010847.stm
Man Utd 1-0 Arsenal
By Phil McNulty
Next match away on Saturday vs Middlesbrough for the Premier League.
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