I honestly did not know that I'd live to see Anderson score his first goal for Manchester United in open play. After two seasons of close shaves, and after many fans had given up on him finding the net, he comes up with a free-kick that Cristiano Ronaldo would have been heavily lauded for if it were the Madeira magician to score it. It certainly did take the everyone by surprise including the goalkeeper who must have been laughing internally laughing his head off at at the sight of Anderson shaping to shoot. To be honest I was too!
Anyhow, we'll now take him a bit more seriously and no doubt he has entered the free-kick specialist category at United.
The other 'first' today was Antonio Valencia who made his debut for United in shirt number 25 and scored what should be surely termed as a solo goal. Many will criticise the goalie for letting the ball through his body but what about crediting the power of the shot?
If Valencia can shoot more often at goal, I have no doubt that he will improve his goalscoring ratio. Ronald0 only became something at United when he started shooting often at goal. The point is given the law of averages, one or two are all are bound to hit the back of the net, and in a generation where footballers are recognised per the number of goals scored, shooting is more important than playing that extra-pass. For instance it is shooting at goal on sight that has made Frank Lampard, Kaka and even Paul Scholes legends of the game.
I mean you look at Michael Carrick--a very important player for United because of his accurate passing but because he rarely has a go at goal, he is not recognised when it comes to personal accolades, so hopefully, Valencia will learn to shoot more often at goal--no matter the distance.
Otherwise United did win the game 2-1 thanks largely to some desperate defending. Sir Alex gave young Craig Cathcart a chance alongside Brown in defence and I have to say that but for the spectacular own goal he nearly scored, he was as good as Jonny Evans--which is only good news for United. Unfortunately for us, Wes Brown limped off in the first half. Now Sir Alex recently said that if Wes stays fit throughout the season, we would be in business and I'm afraid I share his view. If the news is not good as far as his latest injury, then we should start biting our nails already.
Wayne Rooney was given the man of the match award but he played down his efforts. I thought Anderson deserved it as he had his best pre-season match so far--and he scored as well. That is a milestone of its own!
United will now play Bayern Muchen in the final tomorrow---a final that I'll give my opinion on later.
Labels: PRE-SEASON
