As far as improvements go, last night was as minor as they come from Manchester United. The only area that we did much better compared to the Saturday game was in midfield where Darren Fletcher and Anderson got a better hold of proceedings than the men on show at the weekend.
Worryingly however, we've failed to actually put up a mean defence. It beats my understanding that it only takes a cross in the box and one opposing striker to find a way past all of our defenders and get a goal. Last night's conceded goal has further dented my confidence going into the game on Sunday. We've been poor up against average forwards an now we're up against two of the most deadly strike partnerships in the EPL. Goodness knows how that's going to go.
There is an apsect of our play that I'm yet to come to terms with and that is sitting off teams when they win possession from us. I've noticed it for quite a while now and it is my considered opinion that it allows teams to get much closer t our box and get shots away. It possibly explains why De Gea ended up with the highest shots per save ratio in the league----I mean how is it possible that a team that attacks as much as we do also ends up with one of the highest tallys of shots against. I'd like to see the manager encourage the players to press up the opposition and not simply fall back.
On a lighter note, it was great to see RVP get his first Champions League goals for us. He's really paying back that transfer fee bit by bit. He was brought for the now so its important that he gets the goods now.
Wayne Rooney seemed not to have an issue playing with the Dutchman. The next question however is if those two can play together with Shinji Kagawa also on pitch.
Ultimately though, the win is all important because we're now four points away from qualification and yet at this stage last year, we only had a tally of two.
Right now though we need to get our thoughts tuned to Sunday and find a way of defending. Labels: UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
