Bayern Munich 2-1 Manchester United

I suppose the run of results we have had away from home over the last three seasons has spolit us all. We have got used to United just turning up at the San Siro, the Nou Camp and now the equally brilliant Allianz arena and not just getting a result but at the very least giving a performance the equal of the home team. The time was you would go away to the best clubs in Europe and think a 2-1 defeat with an all important away goal was a result you would gladly take before a ball was kicked. But the reason why we went on the sixteen match unbeaten run that ended so disappointingly last night was because we had set high standards. I can't help thinking the game in Milan and last night have shown that our standards have slipped and we aren't the force we were. I think United fans and journalists alike had forgotten before last night that Milan could and probably should have been three goals up before we had an attack worthy of the name in the first leg of the last round. And let's face it that wasn't the best Milan side you are ever going to face. What was worrying about last night though, was, that was far from the best Bayern side either. With three of their best four players not available and a United squad almost injury free, we were probably beaten by the better side over the ninety minutes. And that is the concern for me.
We have got two big, big games coming up now and i can't pretend i am as confident as i would like to be going forward. The defence even with Vidic and Ferdinand back in tandem is not what is has been over previous seasons. If Vidic leaves in the summer we have a big problem at the back, because he is the anchor at the moment, not Ferdinand as it was before the back problems. And though Neville has played reasonably well over recent games it's obvious if we want to stay a European power house we need a top class right back, some time soon.
I am not certain how big our problems are in midfield, short term we are probably ok, but long term we had better be scouting or bringing through some potential Scholes and Giggs replacements. I like the look of Cleverley, though i am not sure what his best position will be for us, on the right or in the middle. But if Gibson was going to make it, this was the season he had to make a breakthrough and that he most definitely hasn't done. I would be amazed if he was still here next season. It's been disappointing the way we have struggled to control the game in the middle of the park against a piss poor mickey team at home and against a far from top class Bayern side away.
That Carrick has played both those games, but rested against Bolton shows how important he is To Fergie's plans in the big games. But he has given us two pretty forgettable performances, we need better than that on Saturday and next Wednesday for that matter. He has done the defensive side of his job as well as ever but his first touch, distribution and decision making has been way off the mark. He has looked a tired player over the last month, if that is the answer then it's a worry. Neither Scholes or Fletcher was that much better last night but with Giggs only just coming back from injury and Gibson obviously not up to it in the eyes of the manager, or most of us for that matter, he has to keep playing them. And i just don't get the adulation of Park. He is a good squad player, but should he be one of the first mames on the teamsheets in a big game, not for me he shouldn't.
I felt sorry for Rooney last night, Fergie was asking miracles of him, the only support he had all night was from Nani, who played reasonably well for about half an hour before disappearing after half time. He can't be brilliant every game and as we saw last night if he is off his game there wasn't much to fall back on. As i have said before i could understand playing Park wide when Ronaldo was here, as in big games we sometimes needed the other wide man to tuck back into midfield to make up for Ronaldo's non existant tracking back. But with that front three he is asking Rooney to give a world class performance every time appears, to make something from nothing at times. As much as i hate to say it oppostion managers can't look at Park, Nani and Rooney on the teamsheet with anything like the trepidation that they would have had when they saw that Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo were the front three.
I can see why he didn't play Valencia last night, he wants to be able to freshen the team up at least a little bit ahead of Saturday morning. But we don't seem to have the squad to be able to do that at the moment. If the choice on Saturday is between rotating the squad to give him the best chance of getting a result in both matches or saying we are top in the league and if we beat Chelsea the league title is ours to lose so lets pick our best team regardless of Wednesday, I would go for the latter, in fact with Rooney hobbling off right at the end ( fingers crossed and crossed again, that it's not that bad) his hand has probably been forced there anyway. Though obviously not in the way we would have liked. We've got to hope that Berba can give as good a performance up front on his own against the rent boys as he did against Wolves and Bolton. I am certain that he can, but he will need more support from midfield than Rooney got last night, and I am not as certain of that. Giggs has to come back into the team on Saturday, i would prefer him in the middle but i have a feeling we will see him on the left in place of Nani with Valencia on the right.
What a start we had last night, to score after a minute was dream time. And it showed what might have been if we had been really up for it and on our game. The defending from the home team leading up to it was comical, Demichelis is apparently a midfielder that Bayern have converted into a centre half and it showed. First he needlessly bundled over Nani, who was going nowhere, and then lost his man and fell over in the box to leave the unmarked Rooney to volley home the opening goal.
I don't go along with all the guff about scoring too early. How can that possibly be the case. Surely knowing that the away goal is in the bag has got to free you up. You know the oppostion have got to take a chance or two eventually and that you will have a great chance to get them a second time on the counter attack. But with nobody getting forward to support Rooney and our midfield unable to get a grip of midfield it didn't happen.
I suppose for the neutral the first half was decent game of football to watch as both sides tried to get forward. Bayern had a couple of pretty good chances, Olic should have scored, and United had a couple, Rooney getting the opener, missing another decent chance and Nani just unable to convert possibly the best move of the match after twenty minutes or so.
The big disappointment of the night for United was the failiure to correct the deficiencies of our first half showing after half time. We could see we weren't getting enough support up front and that we weren't controlling midfield. With the bench we had, the substitutions that were made were about the only ones he could make to try to rectify the situation. Other than going completely negative and playing for the 1-0 that is. But for me he made them too late, it was plain we were struggling, way before he eventually brought them on. As it was they never got a chance to get into the game, especially when that fluke of an equaliser went just five minutes after they had come on. Being the home team that was bound to hand them the initiative and give them the incentive to go all out for the winner. I would never want us to go all negative and to be honest i don't think we have got the players to be able to do that anyway. I am not his biggest fan but a fit Hargreaves would have been invaluable last night. Central midfield, right side of midfield or attacking right back, take your pick, a fit Owen Hargreaves would have done a good job for us. At the moment we don't seem to have the legs in the middle of the pitch , i suppose that's why Park has been playing there. But with Park you get the legs without the strength as we can all see by the amount of times he falls over.
And then came the winner, i love Evra, he's a great player but i have thought for a while that having had to play him in every game, mainly because at times he has been our only fit first choice defender, hasn't done his form much good. Up until December, it was almost inconceivable he could drop a bollock like he did for the winner last night. But he has made a few bad decisions recently, though usually he's got away with them. He didn't end last season in anything like the form he started it in, if memory serves right either, oh for a fit John O'Shea.
So was 2-1 a disaster, no, but it was a great chance missed, to book our path into the semi's and save us a tough game that could have been avoided. Next week will be a hard game, they will have big players back, i presume, but with the away goal if we play to our capabilities we are more than capable of turning the tie around. As for saturday, we have got to get that central midfield functioning back above par again if we are going to defeat them. You would think they will be treating this as the biggest game they have left this season, never mind Wembley. Of course a weeks preperation will not have done their chances any harm either.

David Pleat thinks Rooney was left stranded, no shit sherlock
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/mar/31/bayern-munich-manchester-united-david-pleat

Fergie admits the better team won. I am pretty sure he knows we have problems against the best teams in Europe now. Both in Milan and last night he has been out to the touchline halfway through the first half trying to get a response from his players.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/7539850/Sir-Alex-Ferguson-fears-for-Uniteds-Champions-League-dream-after-Bayern-blow.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article7082230.ece

James Lawton reminds us Rooney is not infallible and Bayern are not an ageing Milan.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/james-lawton-ribrys-drive-leaves-united-breathless-1931743.html
I'm not sure of the praise of Ribery though, he played reasonably and beat Neville a couple of times but he wasn't frightening. Zidane, he is not.

Ferguson "hopes" Rooney injury is not serious, it's not a metatarsal anyway.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/wayne-rooney/7539737/Wayne-Rooney-injury-not-terribly-serious-says-Sir-Alex-Ferguson.html

It looks like Mourinho will be on his way, but where, Murkeydive, the boo camp or Franco's mob.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article7082122.ece
Weird timing or what? That's yet another problem i have with him though, it's always about him. The club have a real chance of Euro glory and it's all about him. That's an ego i never want to see at old trafford.

JP Morgan issue revenue warning to Manchester United
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/mar/31/manchester-united-drop-revenue
Not the kind of news the gimps want to be hearing right now.

The bank of England reveal the credit cruch, ie the bankers and financiers, cost this country£7 trillion. Bonus anyone.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/credit-crisis-cost-the-nation-1637trn-says-bank-of-england-1931569.html

Anatole Kaletsky tells the tories they can't have it both ways
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/anatole_kaletsky/article7081905.ece

Steve Richards isn't impressed either
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/steve-richards/steve-richards-and-i-thought-the-tories-had-changed-1930688.html

The Celtic tiger still deep in the mire.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article7082359.ece

Hamish McRae on Chinese confidence and superiority. Until they have democracy and value human rights it will be skin deep though. That's my liberal reading of history though, if history isn't going to be about progress maybe they will be right. If we don't demolish the free market neocon view of the world there won't be progress.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-dealing-with-china-will-never-be-easy-1931451.html

The underrated Black Grape