Yeah so well if you read the preview, you might just as well accuse me for complacency but I made it very clear that any result bar a defeat was acceptable. In the end, we lost and in turn lost our 24 match unbeaten run at home in Europe. Well who cares! United is good at 'firsts' but we are not the kind of team that thrives on making records. Contrast our form at home in the Premier League with that of Chelsea and you'll know what I'm talking about--but who ends up with the league title more often? It was gutting to lose our record against a team that is way below us in the European rankings (no offence to Besiktas) but at least that is out of the way so we can play with a bit less pressure when tougher teams come to OT in the following stages.
As far as the game is concerned, I thought that we learnt one or two things from the players on show---Gabriel Obertan can give us what neither Valencia nor Nani can provide us with in the first team--penetration! Quite simply, I think we might benefit more from him in the first team--I mean he seems to have the 'finishing' problem that Ronaldo had when he joined us so I think more exposure could turn him into a gem just like it did for Ronaldo.
Secondly, I think that we have a 'finishing virus' in our team this season--I mean I thought it was just a problem of the first team but if you look at the chances that Besiktas had in the game and look at ours, especially in the first half, you could say that they were the likely team to score each time they attacked! When you come to think of it, they could have been two up at half-time albeit against the run of play.
They had a lethal touch when near our goal compared to our lads who were only willing to find a route through their defence or to pass the ball till the six yard box. If we are to challenge for major honours this season, we need to work on that---fast!
Hard luck on Macheda who by all logic should have beaten Rustu at the death. When you think of that chance as well as his header against the post against Wolfsburg, you wonder what we would all be making of his potential.
A point would have granted us the leadership of the table but now we have to earn that in Germany! You only hope that this defeat will not disrupt heads ahead of the game at Portsmouth--which now stands out as a must win for us--reasons in the preview!
Labels: UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
