Sporting Lisbon 0-1 Manchester United

Another 1-0 boreathon i am afraid. I do not look forward to European away games any more, the tactics are awful and the performances are usually not much better. I was hoping the acquisition of Hargreaves would help to liberate our performances away from home in Europe. So it was disappointing that he wasn't fit to play, hopefully that will be the case when he is fit. I have got to say this as much as it hurts, but if that would have been Liverpool or Chelsea last night we would have been scoffing at their negativity. Our tactics in Europe at the moment it seems to me are first and foremost to not concede, and then if we can nick a goal , great, if not we will come away with a point. It is not exactly the Manchester United way is it, and i don't accept we have to be as negative as this. Alright when you go away in Europe you are usually playing against better teams than you face week in week out in the premier league, so a degree of caution is understandable and acceptable. But over the last couple of years the balance between defence and attack in Europe has swung far too far to defence. I mean when it comes to the knockout phase the onus is on away sides to go out and get those away goals that can prove crucial. So in the knockout phase we are not even rehearsing for what we will need to do if we get through to the knockout stage. So it makes even less sense to me.
Although we managed to restrict Sporting to long range shots in the first half, we still needed van Der Sar at his best to produce one brilliant save to keep out a great shot from just outside the D by Liedson. Van Der Sar started last season in tremendous form and fortunately he seems to be in fine form at the beginning of this season, let's hope he can keep it going until the end of the season this time. Unfortunately we didn't really manage to produce much going forward, a decent shot from Ronaldo that was probably going wide that the goalie pushed wide anyway, was about our most noteworthy effort.
I wouldn't exactly say we slipped into gear in the second half, but the passing did become that bit better and we started to build some decent possession for the first time in the game. we still weren't creating chances, but it looked like if any team might create a decent chance it would be us. One grumble i have had about the beginning of the season has been the selection of Wes Brown at right back. It is obvious he is not really that comfortable there, he does the defensive part reliably enough, but when United are on fire and playing the football we are capable of, the full backs bombing forward are a big part of our game. Nobody can pretend that this comes naturally to Wes, obviously we haven't got a replacement that is going to be anywhere near as good as Gary Neville at this, but i have thought we have got better options than Wes. Although i have to concede that he did put in a great cross for the goal, how many times did he not really do anything with the possession that he had. Apparently the two players who i would have preferred to play this role, Pique or Johnny Evans have been injured until recently. It is unfortunate that just when Gary Neville looks like he is going to back playing soon, two of our up and coming stars who might have got some valuable first team experience will be back too. I do wonder where the youngster that we have kept are going to get the first team football that they need to keep their footballing progression going forward.
As i said it was a great cross from Wes for the goal following one of the best moves of the match, and it was great to see Ronaldo busting a gut to get on the end of it. I thought he showed some signs of recapturing his dazzling form of last season last night. To be honest i have not been that impressed by his start to the season, i know the suspension won't have helped him getting his season going. But if truth be told he hasn't really got going this season at all, the ability to go past ordinary players at will, whether by trickery or pace, that he showed last season seems to have been conspicuous by it's absence so far this season. I don't know whether it is the case, but he hasn't really looked 100% fit to me so far this season. I still think our pre-season didn't do us any favours, and we have been lucky so far that our defence seems to be in top form.
Rooney looked in need of the game to me, and i am not that sure he will start on Sunday, but i am fairly certain that Saha will be, well i can't think why else he didn't start last night.
My last word will have to be on Michael Carrick, i heard Andy Gray on sky, saying before the game that he felt he needed to have a big game, as he felt he hadn't really proved his worth in Europe so far. That might be a bit unfair he had two outstanding games against Roma last season and played pretty well at home to Milan. but with Hargreaves now in the fold, and an almost certain starter on the European stage when he is fit, he looks the one midfield player who's position would be most under threat, so i did agree that he needed to have a decent game. Unfortunately he didn't have it, he didn't have a mare, but he didn't give a performance that made me feel he will get in the team in front of Giggs when Hargreaves is fit, so if i was him i would be looking to buck my ideas up.
Anyway three away points, and an away win is something to be celebrated over recent years, and we are up and running in Europe.

DON'T CRY




INEVITABLE
So it comes to pass, no more Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, it's not exactly a big shock is it. I am still amazed this didn't happen in the summer. It has been handled in a pretty cack handed way as far as i can see, the same week as that cringeworthy Chelsea the movie that had Kenyons paws all over it. And after all the guff Kenyon has suppose to have come out with about Mourinho being a winner in it, oh dear. I hope Arsenal fans are watching this and seeing what happens when you become the plaything of corrupt Russian billionaires. To be fair to Abramovitch i don't like Mourinho's style of football either, but there is a classy way to do things and then there is this way of doing things, but who ever said Chelsea could be mentioned in the same sentence as class.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/7004780.stm
Not bad if you can get it.

Moe about the financial doings, don't you know.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2172716,00.html

Do gooders, do good?


http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/conor_foley/2007/09/humanitarian_errors.html