Wednesday 15 September 2010

Fergie Must Carry The Can For Rangers Farce



It would be very easy to just go off on one now about last nights game. There is nothing worse than seeing a half-arsed team selection before kick off to then witness a half-arsed team display over ninety notoriously dull minutes. It was predictable at 1930, and the prophecy was true come 2145.

We've now already drawn three matches this season. It is still very early days but I think most United fans are starting to get edgy after surrendering points at both Fulham and Everton, and now...and worst of all for me personally...a drab, lifeless performance at home against a 'functional' Rangers side, in a match that will only be remembered as the game that Tony Valencia tragically snapped his leg in half.

As many know, I am the whole hearted advocate of Sir Alex, and yes there are many of us. He doesn't often get it wrong but he dropped the ball last night. To make TEN changes from the previous line up and not even have your form players (Berba, Nani, Vidic, etc) on the bench smacks of some ill planning and preparation. When I saw the team sheet before the game last night I immediate thought Fergie was playing a poker style bluffing game, whilst knowing he didn't hold much in his hand. We played two full backs who have had zero game time recently. We played a brand new centre back pairing..one playing his first game in months and one making his European debut. We played two central midfielders who don't have a trick between them (no matter how hard they work) We played Park in a wingers role, one that isn't really his style in a midfield 4. And we played a brand new strike partnership, again one making his European bow and one coming back from the most almighty of personal scandal.

Rangers must have killed themselves laughing when they saw all that! (I must say I have no problem with the way the Scots set themselves up on the night..parking the bus in front of the goals. What did we really expect??!)

And all this against a manager who knows Sir Alex inside out..a man with a bottomless pit of knowledge on us. The score was written before a ball was even kicked.

On other nights, United would have struggled through, put a batten charge on for the last ten, and got a goal or two. But with zero invention, and an empty vat of creativity, that team was never gonna prevail. I expect better of our manager. I know his strengths and his minuscule weaknesses. His foresight is normally invaluable. Yet he put out a Carling Cup line up for what is a must win game...a home match in your opening game of The Champions League. Ive already seen United fans say oh well so what we will still walk the group. That is a stupid thought. These same fans were saying we would thrash Rangers as well last night. We have to find that happy ground between arrogance (which comes from following the biggest club in the world) and complacency (which again comes from following the biggest club in the world) Its a trick to stay between these two goalposts. Yet as the fans fall over the line on one hand, the team falls over the line on the other side. It worries me...it always worries me.

So after months of us all praying that Dimitar Berbatov finds some form which he has, we decide to give him the night off! Same can be said for Nani. All eyes look forward to Liverpool now. The beauty of football is that despite 'only being as good as your last game' there's always the challenge of a new opponent around the corner. United..and Ferguson..need to start slipping through the gears soon. History dictates that we are always slow starters, but one year that wont be an excuse and we will be out of the reckoning before we can blink

Now is a time for action

PS.. all the best to Tony Valencia. Brought back horrible memories of Alan Smith and David Buust. Lets hope for a full recovery for the lad.

4 comments:

  1. Fergie did take a gamble, but I think I understand why he did it. Rangers, as with any other lower league side, were always going to come to OT to park the bus, and hope to get a lucky goal off a set piece.

    Fergie's selection said to Rangers, "how much do you want 3 points". The selection was designed to draw Rangers out of their own penalty area, make them come and have a go at our inexperienced/untried back 4. I believe the thinking was, Rangers get some bravery from seeing our team sheet, come forward and have a go, leaving room at the back for the pacy Valencia, Hernandez and Rooney to hit them on the break, thereby opening up the game, rather than us having to spend 90 minutes trying to break them down.

    On Twitter someone pointed out that David Weir versus Javier Hernandez would be a race that surely only ever has one winner, unfortunately we never got to see it.

    As it turns out the gamble didn't pay off. Rangers only wanted a point, and they got that.

    Looking at the team selection though, for me it was only really Park that played badly. Everyone else was average, and the defence were never troubled. I did wonder why Scholes wasn't our 'plan B' on the bench. We needed his quick brain to pick out that killer pass, all too often the ball fell to Park who gave it away.

    Anyway, what's done is done. We need to avoid defeat in Valencia, and get full points in our two games v Bursaspor, then this will be forgotten.

    Onwards and upwards, we have a mostly rested first 11 ready for the scousers, lets tear them to pieces and go on a winning run.

    Last but not least, all the best to Antonio Valencia, I hope he makes a quick and full recovery, he'll be sorely missed.

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  2. Good article, as a rangers fan I was extremely proud of my team last night. Yes it was defensive but we fought for every ball, stood up well.

    I've always enjoyed watching united play, however, last night they lacked that creative spark. Giggs showed signs when he replaced Park but IMO you missed berb and nani.

    Good luck with the rest of season lads- hopefully valencia recovers fully

    David

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  3. Feel so sorry for Valencia and wish him a speedy recovery and a full recovery at that. Last nights game was probably the worst game I have seen in a long time. I cannot understand why so many changes on such an important night. It would have been better to win the game with as strong a team as possible so that we can play weakened teams after we have gained enough points to win the group. Last night smacked of arrogance and disrespect by SAF. It also showed that the squad of players at OT is not as strong as we are lead to believe by SAF.
    Be interesting to see if Chelski put out a weak team tonight - somehow I don't think they will.

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  4. valencia's injury is a big blow......he was one of our best players last season. hope utd get over this & thrash liverpool

    note:
    I have a small request....please change the theme/style of the blog's background.
    it is very difficult to read with white font & black background.
    i am forced to copy paste the article into notepad & read it

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