Dream of mirrors

Lessons from Rome

Riding high on their 3rd consecutive premiere league title victory Manchester United looked to further their domestic success in Europe as well by attempting to become the first team in the Champions league history to defend their title.

Barcelona are also looking to make history by becoming the first team in the La liga to win the Spanish treble.Led by their former player and Barcelona legend Pep Guardiola who had already won the La liga and the Copa Del Ray in his first season as manager at the club.

Barcelona started the game in their usual 4-3-3 attacking formation with the odd pairing of Yaya Toure and Pique at the back and with Puyol and Sylvinho playing wide because of Alves and Abidal’s suspensions.The midfield consisted of Busquets sitting deep in midfield and was flanked by Iniesta and Xavi.Etoo played CF supported by both Henry and Messi up front.

Ryan Giggs lead United into the game with their formation mirroring Barcelona’s 4-3-3.United made two changes from their previous game against Arsenal,with Park coming on for Tevez and Giggs playing in Fletcher’s role as he was sent off against Arsenal.Ronaldo played CF with both Rooney and Park playing wide.

Manchester United started the game well with Cristiano causing problems initially with a 32m long free kick.More shots from long range followed but all were visibly wide by a margin which failed to test the keeper.In the first ten minutes United pressed forward not giving much time for Barcelona to settle,they hit a total of 5 shots whilst Barca had zero shots on target.Manchester United put them under pressure and created a couple of chances but Barcelona drew first blood exactly on 10’ mins.

THE GOAL: 

 Iniesta made a forward run surging past United midfield unchallenged by Anderson and Carrick and found Etoo with some space to his right.He played a short pass to Etoo who darted down the right before cutting inside Vidic to score at the near post. 

Vidic played Etoo onside and Evra was clearly caught out of his full back position as he was just getting back from midfield.Poor defending lead to Barca’s opening goal and Vidic is to blamed for easily allowing Etoo to cut inside him to score the goal. Voted player of the year by United’s footballers and fans alike, Vidic has enjoyed a fantastic season but endured a Fernando Torres moment here.

After their first goal Barca’s passing got better and better as the game progressed and were playing the better football among the two sides.They kept possession and passed around the midfield between Iniesta,Xavi,Busquets,Messi and created some chances before halftime.They controlled the midfield and showed very less of the ball to United.Anderson was struggling to adjust to Barca’s quick passing and Carrick could only play long ball’s to Rooney from his position.

Failed Tactics:

The Reason United’s midfield struggled to keep possession and control the game was due to Sir Alex’s decision to start Ryan Giggs in the hole behind Cristiano Ronaldo in a 4-2-3-1 formation which backfired badly,that left Ronaldo isolated and Michael Carrick and Anderson badly exposed.On paper the team line-up was 4-3-3 with Giggs playing left midfield but on the pitch Giggs went forward and Park dropped back to the Right and Anderson shifted to left when Barca had the ball.

Giggs did not have a good game because of his positioning and his erratic movement off the ball.He saw very less of the ball and was found wandering around the pitch most of the game.Giggs played as little as 20 completed passes till he was substituted for Scholes after Barca scored their second at 70’ min.

Due to Giggs movement United were pitted in a battle of 2 VS 3 against Barca in the midfield

As you can see Giggs playing very high up the field behind Barca’s defense when he was wanted in the midfield.

Giggs Wandering aimlessly beside Wayne Rooney

Park got no where to go due to the lack of support from midfield with Giggs playing high up the field.you can see Carrick raise his arms in frustration.

With out much passing options in the midfield united had to resort to playing long balls.As you can see Vidic plays a long ball as Giggs looks disinterested in the game.

2nd Half:

Tevez was brought on for Anderson before the half started.United’s changed their  position’s,with Park moving to left midfield and Rooney to Right Forward.Giggs shifted to right midfield and Tevez was given a free role to support Ronaldo up front.

Barcelona passed around the field much of the 2nd half making it look easy with the one goal cushion they had.They were living up to their reputation of passing any opponent team to death.Tevez made little impact on the game as he chased around the ball only to find the ball passed to another player before he could reach it.

Iniesta passing Giggs with ease without much of a challenge as Carrick looks on.

2nd Goal:

Barcelona picked up from where they left off in the first half i.e dominating the midfield.Another Defensive error from United lead to their second goal of the match which all but ended Manchester United’s hopes of wining back the Title.

Vidic did not attack Xavi which gave him enough time to play a beautifully timed cross to Messi who wasn’t marked by Ferdinand.Messi timed his jump to perfection and slotted the ball into the net past Van Der Sar.

Messi’s incredible header that put the game out of manutd’s hands.

In desperation Sir Alex brought on Scholes for the ineffective Giggs but it was really late even for the Ginger Prince to make thing’s happen.Barcelona played out the reminder of the game with more passing football.Game over and United’s hearts were broken.

Final say

Manchester United were not in the right frame of mind when they entered into the final in Rome.With a cloud hanging over two of our best player’s future at United next season,visibly effected our performance on the pitch.

Tevez started against Arsenal and did his part but he did not start in the final.After the premiere league ended Sir Alex did not commit himself to sign Tevez on a permanent basis because he thought his 25 million pound evaluation was too high.

Cristiano Ronaldo on the other was trying too hard to prove who was the best player on the planet against Messi who had ended the debate after the he won the game for Barcelona and pipped Ronaldo to win the “World Footballer of the year” next year.Maybe he was trying hard to impress upon Real Madrid by giving them a signal to come and get him.After a bright opening, during which he seemed to adopt a shoot-on-sight policy, Ronaldo was too subdued later on especially in the Second half.At times, Ronaldo also appeared to be playing for himself, not for the team.

Another setback to United was to play Rooney as Left forward,which he openly declared in the papers that he despises playing in that position.But his pleas fell on deaf ears and SAF played him regularly as LF in Europe as he built his team around Ronaldo.In the final Rooney was again played in that position to support his full back to check Messi and also support Ronaldo at the same time .However Rooney neither stopped Messi or created chances up front.As a matter of fact he did not even have a single shot on target to his name. 

Two of United’s defensive midfielders missed the game.One(Fletcher) due to a red card and the other (Owen Hargreaves)due to injury.The loss to tendinitis of Owen Hargreaves is felt most acutely. A natural defensive midfielder, Hargreaves would have got among Xavi and Iniesta and intercepted their free following football.Fletcher was also sorely missed,his performances notably against Arsenal where he counter attacked and defended too when needed.

United’s bench did not have much attacking options to bring on and change the game as they did in 1999 Final where two goals from substitutes Solskjaer and Sheringham won the us the treble.Berbatov was the 2nd striker after Tevez on the bench.Berbatov in his first season at United was struggling to live up to his 30 million pound tag.Having scored just 9 goals in the League and 4 goals in the Champions league he was overlooked by SAF to start the final owing to poor form.

United failed to Exploit the weak pairing of Yaya toure and Pique.Pique had a good game however as he intercepted a couple of crosses from Rooney reaching Ronaldo.Carrick tired his best to supply Rooney with cross field passes to get him behind Puyol but he only managed to complete one out of five passes.Slynvinho’s position should have been more exploited as he played high on the midfield.

Second Chances are really hard to come by and Manchester United are lucky to again face Barcelona in this years Final at Wembley.Much has changed since two of United’s best player’s left Old trafford.New players like Valencia and Chicharito came into the side filling the gaps left by Cristiano and Tevez.Both Valencia and Chicharito will start the final and will have a major impact on the result.United also have more depth in the squad with player’s like Nani,Michael Owen and Berbatov on the bench.The match is always fought and won in the midfield so hope Sir Alex get’s his selection and formation right.Wishing the squad  to win the Cup this year and Redeem themselves for a forgettable 2009 in Rome.

Glory Glory ManUnited!