Man United 1 : 2 Man CityThe weight of paying a fitting tribute to the legends of the Munich air-disaster probably turned too heavy for United as they succumbed to a meek loss to their neighbors.
In a match charged with high emotions, I had imagined United would come all guns blazing. The whole talk of wearing special no-sponsor-tags kit, chances of silence getting disturbed by City fans, the importance United paying a fitting tribute and the like probably took the focus away from the importance of exacting revenge on the City rivals and the fact that we had the catching up job pending on the Title front. Because it wasn't a performance you would expect from a United side which is deemed by Sir Alex as the best he's had in his time at Old Trafford.
I must say that United started the match with typical flair finding space upfront and creating a few chances for shots on goal - Tevez and Giggs having a go at the City goal. But as time passed City, known for it's tight defense this season seemed to close down well on most of United's attacks. Dunne and Richards looked very solid in their defense and City keeper Hart didn't have much work to do.
The first goal came off a rare mistake by Rio Ferdinand - Steven Ireland's shot was blocked by VDS but unluckily the ball rebounded nicely for Vassel to put it past him into the net - a shock lapse for United. United did try to respond with a few shots on goal, but they were not that convincing - the best chance possibly was the turn and shoot effort by Tevez but it didn't test the keeper awfully much. Within a few minutes the unimaginable happened - United were 2-nill down this time the goal coming off debutant Benjani's shoulder from a neat Petrov Cross.
You could be forgiven for thinking that United probably would fight back for a memorable victory befitting of the occasion. But it wasn't the night for such optimism - Man City were too composed and organized to be broken down. In fact, they kept the attack going and did have a few more chances to build on the 2 goal cushion. United did try to up the ante but they were never really convincing. Scholes still looked off-colour, Ronaldo certainly wasn't anywhere near his best and was kept quiet most times. The substitution also didn't have much of a fire-power - Park, Carrick and Hargreaves didn't seem to achieve much to change the situation. And I guess the absence of Wayne Rooney was bitterly felt all through the second half which underlies the importance of his play-making abilities as much as his goal-scoring prowess. Frustration was the catch-word of the United performance in the second half. Though United did come up with a goal late in the dying moments, it was a case of too little too late.
With United sorely missing Rooney, I felt they had missed a trick by not going for another striker in the Jan transfer window. How can you have treble aspirations when you have just two fully fit strikers? We have already seen that Tevez playing all alone upfront can be pretty ineffective. I also feel that banking on Ronaldo for goals all the time doesn't augur well for us - because he's going to have his off-days too - specially against well-organised sides. Over-all it was a sad night for us. We've got to pick ourselves up and come back strongly and leave nothing to chance - no more slip-ups till the very last match if we are to win the title again. Knowing the fighting spirit of United, I'm sure we can bet on a very strong come-back. Amen!
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