Well, my predictions may have been a bit off, but that’s why I’m doing this for free and not doing it professionally. I did predict a shut out, and although Pique didn’t play as well as I thought he would, it was still a decent performance. Ferdinand really stepped up today and I was worried he was injured towards the end of the first half, turns out he was fine. No Ronaldo or Rooney was a big surprise initially, but then I realized that what Fergie pulled today was just another example of Sir’s subtle genius.
Think about it from Roma’s managers perspective. His strategy was likely based around containing Ronaldo while still making sure that the other players were picked up. They needed to be very quick in transition and to take advantage of every opportunity. They failed. The one thing I noticed throughout the match was that although Roma didn’t play particularly badly (they did, however, play their usual filthy Italian game of divers football) they had no chance of winning because the players were tactically confused. There was no real scope or vision to what Roma was doing, they were just trying to beat United at their own game, which is never going to work. How could Roma’s manager have been able tell his players before the game “Okay guys, no Rooney or Ronaldo today, they’re gonna have Tevez dropping to the left, Carrick as a holding midfielder, Hargreaves coming at us from all angles, and Park driving up the middle the whole game.”
Today was a textbook example of Plan B at work.
Now, as for the penalty, I don’t know what type of glue the ref is sniffing, but that dive was pure sniveling gamesmanship at its finest. I’ll try to grab highlights, but the delayed response was just sad. As I said previously, Roma set a poor example for young players and are an embarrassment to football. In this circumstance, firing a penalty over the bar is footballing poetic justice.
Player of the game was a toss up between Hargreaves and Van Der Sar. Silvestre also did well. Evra’s presence was missed. Ferdinand put in a workmanlike performance and he continues to put on an absolute clinic in central defense.
Bring on Arsenal.
