New Look Manchester United Slay Kiev 4-0 at Old Trafford
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by Jgiuffra
Manc Yank’s Red Journal Issue #5
Yes, my predicted starting line-up was a little flawed to say the least. That’s what you get when you try to enter the mind of Sir Alex Ferguson. He decided to rest some weary warriors and to give a first time run-out in the Champions League to some faces to remember for the future. Ferdinand, Hargreaves and Giggs weren’t included in the squad and Brown, O’Shea and Anderson sat on the bench as unused substitutes. This meant that talented youngsters Gerard Pique and Danny Simpson were entrusted into the top rated back four in the Premiership. It also meant that Nani, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher got their chance to show the boss exactly what they could do if given the chance in midfield.
The game took a little while to open up. United had a few chances in the opening half hour, but didn’t manage to breech the Ukrainians defence until the 32 nd minute. (There was a penalty shout on 19 minutes when it appeared Wayne Rooney was elbowed inside the area by Vladysav Vaschuk. Rooney picked up a yellow card shortly after as he vented his frustration by throwing in a late challenge against Artem Milevskiy.) United's first goal came by way of a Ronaldo free kick that was headed on by Carrick and then deflected off an unknowing Carlos Tevez toward Pique. The Spaniard out-jumped his defenders and nodded the ball past the helpless goalkeeper.
The Red Devils doubled their lead when Tevez dispossessed Correa in the centre circle and played a very nifty one-two with Rooney. The Ukrainian goal keeper got a hand to the Argentinean’s shot but couldn’t keep the blast from shaking the back of the net.
Ferguson was confident enough at halftime to pull Edwin Van der Sar and replace him with Tomasz Kuszczak. The Dutch number 1 had no saves to make in the first half but the Polish international did have some work to do. Just after the restart Dynamo’s substitute Carlos Rincon blasted a shot from just outside the area that Kuszczak was alert to and saved well.
Fergie then his last substitutions to give Tevez a rest and to allow the Old Trafford faithful to give Pique the ovation he deserved. He brought on Saha and Jonathan Evans to see out the match.
Rooney scored in the 65 th minute converting a perfect cross by Nani with a side footed volley. The night was rounded off when Cristiano Ronaldo also received a nice ball from his Portuguese compatriot, shed his defender and fizzed the ball into the far corner. Job done. Bring on the knockout stages.
In a post match interview Wayne Rooney said that he didn’t enjoy the match. He was quoted as saying, “We're delighted that we’re through and maybe we can rest a few players in the next two games…It was difficult though because they didn’t want to play. It spoilt the game and I didn’t really enjoy playing in it. It was one of those nights but we did a good job and got the win. It was like a training session, they came and showed no enthusiasm to play the game. At times we played some good football, but it was a slow game. The main thing, though, was that we won the game.”
Well said Wayne.
NEWS:
Nemanja Vidic has just signed a new deal with United that will keep him at the club until 2012….could we be looking at the next Captain? He has the temperament, the skill and the drive to do it.
We shall see.
