Galatasary Review

Manchester United vs Galatasary

19th September 2012

Old Trafford

FT Manchester United 1-0 Galatasaray
MUFC Goals: Carrick

Starting X1: Dea Gea, Rafael, Evans, Vidic, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Nani, Scholes, Kagawa, van Persie

First things first, before we get into all the moaning about a slightly lacklustre performance, we won, and ultimately at this stage of the season that is all that matters, ideally we would have wanted to destroy them and sent out a message to the rest of Europe, but as it stands we limped to a 1-0 win, Michael Carrick scoring a rare goal. The game began brightly enough for us going 1-0 up inside 7 minutes, a well worked goal, which saw some lovely link up play between Robin Van Persie, Shinji Kagawa (who was excellent throughout) and then Michael Carrick who finished nicely by rounding off the keeper despite being fouled! So after a bright start we were all expecting United to kick on, score a few more and cruise to a comfortable victory, but it wasn't to be, Galatasaray playing two up front, a rarity at Old Trafford, worked doggedly and efficiently to end the second half with more shots than United.

There were, despite the poor showing, some impressive performers for united, Shinji Kagawa continues to impress, and every time he gets on the ball I am filled with a feeling of peace, similarly to the feeling you get when Berbatov gets the ball, as you feel safe in the knowledge that the ball will be retained! Kagawa looked the most likely to make the breakthrough for United for much of the first and second half, setting up Carrick's first and coming close to scoring himself in the second period when a lovely shimmy saw him beat the last defender, but he was stopped by a great challenge by the recovering centre back.

Another bright performance came courtesy of Valencia, where all he lacked was end product to cap off all his magnificent runs. Tony had the beating of his marker throughout the game, and unusually for him, his final ball was lacking every time, however this will come as he continues to play, and it looks if though this season will be another exciting one for our marauding winger!

Nani had a very strange evening, in the first half he spent the time in a free role, drifting about the pitch, popping up in a variety of positions, but rarely creating much or getting into any dangerous areas. The second half was a strange one for him, Rafael won a penalty, which everyone in the ground expected to be taken by Robin Van Persie, a ruthless finisher from 12 yards for Arsenal, however Nani stood up and his track record from penalties is patchy, scoring in the Champions league final but missing subsequent key penalties at places such as Craven Cottage where we ended up dropping points as a result. As he stood up to take the penalty I was filled with a feeling of dread, as he stuttered during the run up and shot tamely into the path of Muslera who bundled the ball out, from then on the spotlight was on Nani and many a red cried for his sale, which is ridiculous, Nani is a rare breed of player one which can change a game in a instant, he also provides many assists for us, and furthermore despite everyone slating him, he was actually one of our better players for the remainder of the game, linking up well with Evra and looking by the far the most likely source of a goal or moment of inspiration to make the game more comfortable, so United fans slating Nani should take a look at themselves, and get behind the player who obviously relies a lot on confidence and help him begin assisting and scoring goals like we know he can.

Another highlight of the match was the return of Darren Fletcher from Ulcerative Colitis, many predicted, including doctors, that it would be almost impossible for him to return to the highest level. I was pleasantly surprised to see him run back out on the Old Trafford turf, he looked as if though he has regained much of the weight he had shed during his illness, however it must be noted Ulcerative Colitis is a chronic illness which can obviously flare up so patience must be given to Darren.

Finally a mention must be given to David De Gea, who once again saved United's bacon. He produced two fine saves to deny a lightening quick counter attack from Galatasaray and also looked assured throughout from his claiming of crosses to his ever brilliant distribution, something which played a big part in Fergie's decision to sign him, i really hope Ferguson selects De Gea for the trip to Anfield this Sunday, and have a feeling he will after this display. So overall yesterday was not the greatest of performances from United, but the overall aim of the game, especially after last seasons surrendering of leads was to gain 3 points, we did this and our defense looked pretty solid, so overall I'm satisfied by United's performance, just stop the Nani bashing please!  

Wigan Review

Manchester United vs Wigan Athletic

15th September 2012

Old Trafford

FT Manchester United 4-0 Wigan Athletic
MUFC Goals: Scholes, Hernandez, Buttner, Powell

Starting X1: Lindegaard, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Buttner, Nani, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Hernandez, Welbeck

Wigan are a side which have given us United supporters many happy moments, such as the numerous home wins against the side, the Carling cup victory in 2006, and of course winning the league at the DW stadium, or formally the JJB. However they have also given us many nightmare moments, such as our 1-0 defeat last season which swung the premiership pendulum City's way due to Shaun Maloney's winner. Thankfully Saturdays game was another day to remember, with many bright performances from both young and old. When I refer to young and old you know exactly who I am talking about, Paul Scholes our midfield maestro, who once again he was instrumental in our win, pulling the strings from midfield playing gravity defying balls out to our wide men, and scoring the goal which opened the floodgates and led to our eventual 4-0 romp.

At the other end of the spectrum you have the exciting performances from the two new debutantes Nick Powell and Alexander Buttner. Buttner's performance was a massive relief  for many a red, who have grown increasingly unnerved by Patrice Evra's below par performances in the left back position, and cried out for some top notch competition for his place to keep Pat on his toes, Buttner's performance will certainly give Fergie food for thought when it comes to picking his team for the trip to Anfield this weekend, however I expect Ferguson to stick with Evra for the game due to the fearsome atmosphere we can expect and Evra's obvious experience in these circumstances.

Another highlight of the game was Nick Powell's stunning debut goal and overall performance, where he looked every inch the type of player capable of playing for United in the near future, his finish for United's fourth goal was majestic and defied his tender years, he's only just turned 18 believe it or not! Hopefully we'll see more of Nick now after his exciting introduction.  With a tough week ahead for United it was imperative we beat Wigan, and our convincing win has allowed us to move ahead of our main title rivals City by one point, after they endured a frustrating afternoon at the Britannia.

One interesting talking point from the victory over Wigan came from the United player who was least involved , Anders Lindegaard, his selection splits opinion amongst many a red, personally I see his selection as massively frustrating one, with young David being left on the side lines despite an excellent opening day performance against Everton, where he was our stand out performer and kept us in the game for much longer than we deserved. Hopefully David De Gea will start against Galatasaray, and impress Fergie sufficiently enough to maintain his place for the trip to Anfield this Sunday, but I am not holding my breath!

So overall Saturday was a very satisfactory day for Manchester United, 3 points, 4 goals, some very impressive performances and moving ahead of City in the premier league table, granted its early days, but things are looking promising.

Southampton Review

Southampton vs Manchester United

2nd September 2012

St Mary's

FT Southampton 2-3 Manchester United

MUFC Goals: van Persie (3)

Fulham Goals: Lambert, Schneiderlin

Starting X1: Lindegaard, Rafael, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Cleverley, Carrick, Kagawa, Valencia, v.Persie, Welbeck.

2nd win of the season and 2 consecutive victories heading into the international break. I was not pleased enough with the performance as for 65 mins Southampton dominated the game and deserved to take all points. I'll give us credit for coming back, that showed heart but overall performance wasn't good enough. Firstly what an achievement for Sir Alex Ferguson; 1000 games! To have a win percentage of 60% and to have managed in 1000 games is unheard of. A fantastic and great man and I'll have a blog about him up soon. I think personally this international break has came at a perfect time as it gives players time to recover and gain full fitness, and also to give the players a rest. The players won't be tired but I use the word rest as in take time off to come to terms with what below par performance we've gave; considering the task for this season. I would like us to come back strong against Wigan at home, to take us into Liverpool. I would like to see the partnership of Rio and Vidic in the Wigan game to take us into the Liverpool game, with that being the 3rd game in a row alongside each other.

We started the game off pretty well and were looking very calm and confident against Southampton for the first 5-10 mins. This included a volley dragged wide by van Persie from an exquisite long pass from Michael Carrick onto the chest. However after that period we starting to slacken off and Southampton were coming more and more into the game. Southampton's pressure paid off after from a sloppy pass by Kagawa was intercepted by Schneiderlin who passed it to Davis, and then Jason Puncheon who crossed it in deep aiming for Lambert, who towered over Rafael to head past Lindegaard.

The Lindegaard inclusion vs Southampton was a very strange choice by Sir Alex especially his reasons. Sir Alex said De Gea was 'dropped' because of his error against Fulham which could of cost us all 3 points. In the previous 2 games and last 6 months of the season last campaign he kept us in most games with sensational saves. De Gea is only 21 and the boy in my view doesn't seem a confident lad and to drop him this early on can't do him much good. I would have understood slightly if he said it was rotation and because of Lindegaard's very good performance mid-week for the U21; but he didn't say that. Lindegaard didn't look much different to De Gea vs Southampton, he didn't look any more commanding and also his kicking was poor. Ferguson is known very making big decisions and I guess it was his way of giving him a kick up the backside. I think Ferguson tried to tell him you can't do this all season, we need consistency from the goalkeeper.

United after conceding looked to step up their game slightly and not long after of improving their game they equalised through van Perise which was 1 of 3 for him. Danny Welbeck knocked it out wide to Antonio Valencia, who in acres of space crossed it in aiming for van Persie, the slip of Clyne may have been constantly though van Persie controlled it fantastically on his chest and volleyed it home. It was hit very well to put United on level terms, when that went in you thought United would change gear to put this game to bed; this however wasn't the case!

In the early period of the second half like the first half we started of well for the first 5-8 mins, we seemed slightly on top and created a very good chance. A well delivered cross by Valencia picked up Patrice Evra who drifted into the box which led to a downward header being saved by Davis. Through some absorbing of pressure Southampton regained the lead on 55 mins through Schneiderlin. Through a slip by Evra a cross by Lambert which seemed easy to defend became dangerous as Schneiderlin headed home a free header.

United were on the brink on conceding a third, it was all one way traffic as Lindegaard denied Puncheon with a near-post save after the he skipped past Evra so easily! Sir Alex threw on Paul Scholes and Nani for Tom Cleverley and Kagawa; which Scholes completely changed the game. United started to slowly become on top as Southampton slowly dropped deeper in their own half. United were handed a lifeline when another awful pass by goalkeeper Davis allowed Nani to find van Persie and he was tackled from behind by Joos Hooiveld. You then couldn't of seen a worse penalty! Van Persie stepped up and dinked the ball to the left side of the goal, where the keeper dived, who knocked it easily away. Thankfully that wasn't costly and later apologised for his mistake. He stated that he changed his mind at the last minute and was planning to blast it.

With time against United with 3 minutes ago the pressure was building against Southampton and United were able to get 1 goal back to make it 2-2. A Rafael cross, picked up a free Rio Ferdinand who headed against the bottom of the post, but the rebound came back out and van Persie was first to bounce sliding in the equaliser. It was completely United dominating in possession.

Van Persie was on his hat trick and we were entering stoppage time and on Sir Alex's 1000th game we pulled off a 3rd goal! In stoppage time, we completed the rescue act with a bullet header by van Persie from Nani's corner, which sparked glorious scenes in the away end of St. Mary's.

Review Finished