I suppose we can call this a job done at the end of the day, but it wasn't as comfortable as it should have been and our flaws at the back were there for all to see yet again. Before the group began this tie seemed like the easiest of our group stages abroad, but after the first two sets of games, it's hard to know whether that was the correct call. It certainly became a tougher test than we'd hoped for after yet another poor start and yet again going behind in the first half.
For the umpteenth time over the last couple of seasons, eyes will turn to Evra and wonder why on Earth Fergie has retained faith in him again this season. There were strong rumours of a bid for Baines in the summer and whilst, he isn't as good as Evra was at his best, he is far superior to the over the top figure the Frenchman has become. His positioning and then decision making for the opening goal were almost comical, granted Evans didn't exactly cover himself in glory either, but then Evra was exposed as if he hadn't existed.
I wouldn't say we had started well, but we had started the game as we meant to go on, controlling possession. Of course were helped by the fact they were quite happy to play away tactics at home, sitting very deep and trying to catch us on the break. Fergie opted for the 4-3-1-2 that he started with against Newcastle in the league cup with last week. I'm not sure about the system yet, i suppose it helps to enable us to keep the ball, important at the moment with a dodgy back four. On the other hand there is absolutely no natural width and that is where United have always created most of our chances. I suppose the acid test for me would be to see us play this way with Carrick and Scholes in midfield against a half decent side. It's going to be a tough game on Sunday up in geordieland and the defence will need protection, will he continue with it, big gamble if he does.
The equaliser was fortunate, Van persie putting it in with his shoulder, not the intended head, but it was very timely, it allowed us to settle down again and play with patience. It was a nice ball from Rooney who again showed signs of getting back somewhere near his best. He drops very deep at times in this formation, almost swapping places with Cleverley at times. I thought Cleverley did well last night and i definitely would like to see him start on Sunday. As for our other two engine room players, Fletcher did alright, but made a couple of sloppy errors that in his new role that better teams would have punished. So his rehabilitation continues, but i wouldn't want to see him play against a top half of the table team just yet. As for Anderson, it seems reds fall into two camps on him, some see unfulfilled potential who should be given a consistent tun in the team, whilst others see someone not fit to wear the shirt. You can put me in the latter, obviously, he wasn't poor last night, but as usual you didn't see anything that would scare the cream of Europe either.
The highlight of the game was the second and decisive goal, a glrious through ball found Van Persie who found the back of the net with a sublime finish. For the most part of the second half United dominated possession, but we still had our moments at the back and i would have liked us to have tried a little harder to get that third and killer goal. It's to be hoped that the Evans substitution was precautionary with Newcastle in mind and not something worse. It's worrying that it seemed to be the same thigh he hurt in the dying moments of the Spurs defeat.
At least we have started with two wins and given ourselves our great chance of getting qualification done and dusted early season after the ignominity of failing to advance out of the group stages last time around. And then hopefully some of the younger lads might get a chance for the last couple of games, i would like to see Powell getting a game at this level at some stage.
Daniel Taylor explains why Gary Neville is out on his own when it comes to TV punditry, he is of course, but some of us wouldn't mind him banging some heads together in our back four on our training ground instead of Sky. The criticism of our full backs is of course justified, but i actually think, Rafael has shown promising signs, over the last few games. Yes he may have been out of position for Tottenham's last, but the Ferdinand of a couple of years ago would have covered the danger. That's the problem at the back at the moment, one bad mistake usually gets compounded by another. Rafael isn't anywhere near the finished article by any means, but he is actually improving at the moment, which is at least promising.
For the umpteenth time over the last couple of seasons, eyes will turn to Evra and wonder why on Earth Fergie has retained faith in him again this season. There were strong rumours of a bid for Baines in the summer and whilst, he isn't as good as Evra was at his best, he is far superior to the over the top figure the Frenchman has become. His positioning and then decision making for the opening goal were almost comical, granted Evans didn't exactly cover himself in glory either, but then Evra was exposed as if he hadn't existed.
I wouldn't say we had started well, but we had started the game as we meant to go on, controlling possession. Of course were helped by the fact they were quite happy to play away tactics at home, sitting very deep and trying to catch us on the break. Fergie opted for the 4-3-1-2 that he started with against Newcastle in the league cup with last week. I'm not sure about the system yet, i suppose it helps to enable us to keep the ball, important at the moment with a dodgy back four. On the other hand there is absolutely no natural width and that is where United have always created most of our chances. I suppose the acid test for me would be to see us play this way with Carrick and Scholes in midfield against a half decent side. It's going to be a tough game on Sunday up in geordieland and the defence will need protection, will he continue with it, big gamble if he does.
The equaliser was fortunate, Van persie putting it in with his shoulder, not the intended head, but it was very timely, it allowed us to settle down again and play with patience. It was a nice ball from Rooney who again showed signs of getting back somewhere near his best. He drops very deep at times in this formation, almost swapping places with Cleverley at times. I thought Cleverley did well last night and i definitely would like to see him start on Sunday. As for our other two engine room players, Fletcher did alright, but made a couple of sloppy errors that in his new role that better teams would have punished. So his rehabilitation continues, but i wouldn't want to see him play against a top half of the table team just yet. As for Anderson, it seems reds fall into two camps on him, some see unfulfilled potential who should be given a consistent tun in the team, whilst others see someone not fit to wear the shirt. You can put me in the latter, obviously, he wasn't poor last night, but as usual you didn't see anything that would scare the cream of Europe either.
The highlight of the game was the second and decisive goal, a glrious through ball found Van Persie who found the back of the net with a sublime finish. For the most part of the second half United dominated possession, but we still had our moments at the back and i would have liked us to have tried a little harder to get that third and killer goal. It's to be hoped that the Evans substitution was precautionary with Newcastle in mind and not something worse. It's worrying that it seemed to be the same thigh he hurt in the dying moments of the Spurs defeat.
At least we have started with two wins and given ourselves our great chance of getting qualification done and dusted early season after the ignominity of failing to advance out of the group stages last time around. And then hopefully some of the younger lads might get a chance for the last couple of games, i would like to see Powell getting a game at this level at some stage.
Daniel Taylor explains why Gary Neville is out on his own when it comes to TV punditry, he is of course, but some of us wouldn't mind him banging some heads together in our back four on our training ground instead of Sky. The criticism of our full backs is of course justified, but i actually think, Rafael has shown promising signs, over the last few games. Yes he may have been out of position for Tottenham's last, but the Ferdinand of a couple of years ago would have covered the danger. That's the problem at the back at the moment, one bad mistake usually gets compounded by another. Rafael isn't anywhere near the finished article by any means, but he is actually improving at the moment, which is at least promising.
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