A disappointed Sir Alex Ferguson
Last night was one of the most painful defeats for Manchester United fans in recent history. The 2-1 loss at Basel meant that we missed out on knockout stage football in the Champions League and will now go into the Europa League. The defeat itself has left people wondering why. Why did we lose a game we musn’t lose? And why have we found ourselves eliminated from the Champions League?
Manchester United controlled the game in terms of possession. 56.7% possession to be exact but the efficiency in attack was lacking. Very few clear cut chances were created. 1 to be exact; Nani’s cross to Rooney which he mis hit/didn’t hit. Penetration was poor. The players were impatient. Time and time again in possession the players sent it wide and crossed the ball in, only for it to be caught by the goalkeeper or cleared by the defence. Man Utd attempted 46 crosses throughout the game and only 7 connected to a Man Utd player. That is an average of 1 cross every 2 minutes. To put this into context, Man Utd attempted more crosses last night than Stoke City has in each of their Premier League games this season.
The fact that we attempted so many crosses brings me onto team selection and formation. We fielded 5 defenders, 4 wingers and 1 striker. Ryan Giggs himself attempted 9 crosses from playing in a central midfield position. He was often forced wide meaning penetration from the middle was often limited. Although Nani was probably our best player on the night, he attempted 17 crosses himself. Only 3 of them reached a Man Utd player, 1 reached Rooney who should have scored. Man Utd’s persistence in crossing the ball was in itself baffling. Rooney was a lone striker up against 2 tall, physical centre backs who more often than not averted any danger from crossed balls. Crossing to a lone striker makes the game even more difficult than it should’ve been. If the game plan was to overload the box with crosses from out wide, surely we should have started with a second striker? The way that we played warranted the introduction of a second striker much earlier in the game.
Lapses of concentration in defence also contributed in Man Utd’s defeat to Basel. The first goal could’ve been totally preventable had David De Gea caught it, though it’s understandable that he did what he did. Unfortunately, his touch fell straight to a Basel player who netted to make it 1-0. For the second goal Shaqiri should’ve been ushered into the corner onto his weaker foot yet he was allowed to cut inside and put in a cross which ended up in Basel scoring. Disappointing to say the least. I felt that the fight in the players was also lacking. There were many occasions in which I was yearning for the team to close down and win the ball back to no avail. When the chips were down and we really needed something from anyone, no player stepped up with a match-winning contribution.
In my opinion, confidence was the key reason as to why Man Utd find themselves out of the Champions league. The Manchester United players last night lacked the confidence in their own ability. They lacked the patience to play the ball along the ground and break down the opposition, instead opting to cross the ball as often as possible. Ultimately this was our downfall. Now the players have an even bigger job of showing their character to come back from what’s been viewed by many to be as quite a low point.
How do you feel after last night’s defeat? Feel free to comment below.
Follow me on twitter @RedMancunia.
The blame lies at the owners. We have become a mediocre team, with good but not world class players, who due to financial restrictions from the owners no longer can attract the best of players.
The truth they do not want you to know at Old Trafford is that in the last five years United’s net spend on transfers is a mere £56.9m. Or to put it another way, less than Aston Villa, with £68.2m, Sunderland’s £62.7m and Stoke’s £61.2m. City have spent £437.1m, Chelsea £144.9m, Liverpool £84m and Spurs £76m.
Cheers.
437.1m ? back that up with some stats. obv there’s a big spend on shit by mark hughesless but apart from that it’s money well spent and will see you lot eating dirt for a few years.
1 FA cup and qualification for champions league after nearly half a billion quid’s worth of investment = money well spent?? Lool u obviously have a different idea of value for money than the rest of us……..
The blame lies at the owners. We have become a mediocre team, with good but not world class players, who due to financial restrictions from the owners no longer can attract the best of players.
Iin the last five years United’s net spend on transfers is a mere £56.9m. Or to put it another way, less than Aston Villa, with £68.2m, Sunderland’s £62.7m and Stoke’s £61.2m. City have spent £437.1m, Chelsea £144.9m, Liverpool £84m and Spurs £76m.
Cheers.
real reason for this seasons terrible performances is lack of investment, time sir alex admitted the glazer family have not backed the club and there just is no money available. I dont want to squander the clubs money, nor do i want it spending on a bunch of carpetbaggers debts. Time is up malcolm, sell up and sod off.. LUHG
fuck off dave. were smalling, jones, de-gay-boy etc free transfers ? get used to winning fek all. you’ll be there for a while. I’d love it to be 36 years (just to see how many day tripper tourists turned up each week) but I don’t think it will be, anyway it’ll be long enough to put you back to where you were ‘pre-sky’. You cnuts may not remember that but us proper fans do. 36.000 avg attendance in the top division.
As a “proper fan” you’ll also remember that City’s average attendance for that period was 30,000.
Also you’ll know that despite your BS United have had higher average attendances than City EVERY YEAR since 1947,including when we were in a lower division and most amusingly after the war AT YOUR GROUND.
Fucking idiots all over the place in here.
Thankfully none of you ever come anywhere near old trafford so your opinions never get further than your keyboards.
Keep on slagging the club off at the first slight dip in 6 years. If not go one better and fuck to support the bitters.
so you are happy with this mediocre team? yeah.
oooooh collyhurst (i’m a blue so i know where that is) i sense the despair and bitterness in your post. it’s only been a few weeks of being shit and already your ‘massive’ worlds biggest club (TM) army is faltering. I look forward to what’s left of the day tripper post-sky massive after 3 or 4 years of winning fek-all. can you imagine what your club would be if you went 35 years without a trophy ? hyde united would be my guess. ESADYRB
@Tublu
You’ve still got the small club syndrome and rightly so as City’s wealth is hardly based on a great history such as at United, Liverpool, or Arsenal. In reality City is just a minor brand with no global appeal or even recognition. Eventually the desert rats will get bored and City, a club with limited substance, will return to the small time.
@Tublu
You’ve still got the small club syndrome and rightly so as City’s wealth is hardly based on a great history such as at United, Liverpool, or Arsenal. In reality City is just a minor brand with no global appeal or even recognition. Eventually the Arabs will get bored and City, a club with limited substance, will return to the small time.
Exactly, the perfect question. If you are happy with mediocrity, go support Arsenal. Oh sorry, but at this point even they are doing better than us.
I love Manchester United through and through. I have been to Old Trafford and watched the team at its best in the UCL winning season. I even own a Ryan Giggs autographed jersey.
I havent suddenly started hating the team. But its not0tem tht is Manchester United in attitude or play ! They play the slowest passing game i have ever seen. I support Utd no matter what, but the team reeks of stale play ! We depend on Rooney too much ! The poor lad’s forgotten how to play as a forward !
Do a simple comparison and see if you get your questions answered.
Compare the midfld of UCL winning season & the midfld now. Even the forwrds if you want to.
Firstly, maybe it’s just me but I feel that Rooney has lost his instinct as a striker, he has skill, but he can’t really dribble and beat players and he’s finishing has been very poor recently, maybe it’s due to the lack of playing time in the striker role.
Secondly, Phil jones and park/giggs in midfield? When the oppositions sees this, not only do they not fear man utd, but also give them confidence to constantly attack man utd when possible. When it’s park and jones in midfield there’s no creativity at all, it’s just 2 hardworking guys running around, doing simple passes that are unable to unlock the defense.
Next, crosses. When was the last time man utd striker score from a header?
Next, defense. Praises must be given to streller not sure whether I spelt his name correctly, who held the ball so so well. IMO, the defense had a bad game again, lack of communication cause the second goal, the denfense gave the ball away so many times even when they are NOT under pressure, especially Evans.
Lastly, looking at the bench, not a single game changer, Darren gibson? Why wasn’t ravel Morrison on the bench? I know he didn’t really have a good game last time round, but I believe he can be considered as a wild card, of cause the chances of him changing the game is not very high.
Now man utd is making every opposition look good, man utd look like a gun without bullets.
There are 3 issues that I think must be addressed:
1. The scouting team needs to have eye for good natural young talents. They should think outside the box and get the young telents before other teams get to them. Not a lot of people have the eye to see talents and I think we need to change or add to the scouters. I can volunteer to do this even for free, because I think I have got what it takes to do that job.
2. We need to have a training philosophy where any one joining would be moulded by that. Arsenal are doing that and so are Bacelona. We have lost that ManU way of playing where our aim is to score goals and finish opposition.
3. Nani has great skills but lacks ball sense. I cannot understand how you hit a ball miles over the cross bar. There is a way to strike the ball and drive it low, there is also a way to strike it and the flight of the ball will be a mid flight. This guy needs to be taught which part of the ball to strike to get the right lift of the ball. I cannot understand why a professional could strike the ball over and over again miles over the cross bar without learning from previous mistakes.
Phil Jones is a very good player but can never be a midfielder, I think he should be playing right full back and Smalling should be trained for centre back. We need people with very good football brains to play in the mid field.
An advice to SAF please do not panick in picking your team just play your 4-4-2 formation and better it and let everyon one know that you are the master of that formation. God bless you and just motivate the players and let them practice more shooting at training. The goal you do not score is the shot you did not take. Thanks OliG
United,IMO..lack creativity in central midfield.and it began after the injury to Tom,you can’t loses 8 first team players and buy 3 to compete at a very top level.The failured of saf to buy a quality cm,cost united all embrashment.and should accept fact and do something before is too late.
Ok, lets try to be positive then. This current United side IMO does not need a lot of investment in players. I think we alreade have most of the quality we need, except in CM where we lack creativity and vision. We need a talented playmaker and a fierce fighter like the types of De Rossi, Modric and Essien.
Our biggest problem right now is injuries and the lack of form from key-players. Mentally we looked like a fu**ed up side…. Evra, Rio and Rooney really needs to find some form and start performing like the top players i still think they are. Oh, and i would like to see Berba and the youth get more playing time.
disappointing more so we need to strengthen our striking force ALL THE SAME man utd is still the team to beat in the world it is really hurting to just sit down seeing other team playing where we deserve to be.WE NEED A CHANGE NOW.