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!