After 26 years in the Manchester United hot seat, there are
not many in the world that should be questioning Sir Alex Ferguson’s team
decisions. The man has been at that club longer than I have been alive and has
won no less than 37 honours with The Red Devils. But the chance of making it 40
this season was cut by one after their 2-1 loss to Real Madrid in The Champions
League on Tuesday night sending them out of the tournament 3-2 on aggregate.
United edged the first half but it remained goalless at half time, but they
took the lead just a few minutes into the 2nd half after Nani’s low ball into
the box was inadvertently diverted into the Real Madrid goal by Sergio Ramos.
United then looked to be in control until 8 minutes later when referee Cuneyt
Cakir sent Nani off for a high footed challenge on Alvara Arbeloa, a decision
which incensed Sir Alex Ferguson and everybody else wearing the colour red that
evening. After that Madrid took advantage of the missing man and punished
United with two goals in quick succession from Luka Modric and Cristiano
Ronaldo. United just didn’t have enough to respond and were sent crashing out
of the tournament leaving players, management and fans distraught and unhappy
by the way the events of the match unfolded.
While there is still lots of debate on whether it was or
wasn’t a red card, I came to the decision that because TV cameras showed that
Nani was looking at the high ball coming in towards him, he didn’t see Arbeloa
coming in for it as well and so when he stuck his foot up to control it he
inadvertently made contact with the Real Madrid full back. There was nothing
intentional about it and Nani can feel very hard done by in my opinion. But
whether the referee saw it like that is unclear and if he didn’t notice Nani’s focus
completely on the ball and just saw the high challenge, then I can understand
why he has made his decision. I personally would have given no more than a
yellow, but unfortunately for Manchester United fans, the damage is done.
Although at the very start of this I said there aren’t many
that should be questioning Sir Alex Ferguson’s team decisions, but having given
it plenty of thought, I do think he could have made some better decisions that
might have given his team a better chance of winning the game. There were 6
changes made in total from the team that beat Norwich City in the Premier
League on Saturday. Out went Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling, Antonio Valencia,
Anderson, Shinji Kagawa and Wayne Rooney. In came Rio Ferdinand, Rafael, Nani,
Tom Cleverley, Ryan Giggs and Danny Welbeck. For a start, I wouldn’t have
brought Nani into the starting eleven simply because I don’t think he has hit
the same heights for United as he has done in the last couple of seasons.
Kagawa and Rooney had excellent games against Norwich at the weekend, but both
played the full 90 minutes and I think that is what cost them a starting place
on Tuesday night. If I was in Ferguson’s shoes, I would have taken both men off
after the 2nd goal on Saturday and while it would have only been an extra 15
minutes rest, it might still have made a difference. Jonny Evans might have
been disappointed in losing his place given how well he has done this season,
but given Rio Ferdinand’s experience and how well he plays with Nemanja Vidic,
the decision is understandable.
The red card changed the game completely, but it wasn’t
until after Madrid scored their second goal that United made any substitutions.
First Rooney came on for Cleverley, a good decision that might have put United
back in with a shout of getting at least one goal back, but 7 minutes later I
was left scratching my head when I saw Danny Welbeck making for the bench, Was
it time for Shinji Kagawa? A man who scored a hat-trick at the weekend, or
Javier Hernandez? Someone who has built a bit of a reputation for scoring goals
after coming on as a sub, nope, it was Ashley Young. While I don’t think Young
is a bad player, he’s been a bit like Nani in that he’s not exactly set the
world on fire this season and he hasn’t even managed to score a single goal in
any competition either. At least Hernandez and Kagawa have scored and set up
goals this campaign. A very odd decision I thought and couldn’t understand why
it was made. A few minutes before the end United brought on Antonio Valencia
for Rafael but by then it was too late and everyone involved at Manchester
United is now left wondering what could have been.
We most likely won’t find out any answers from Sir Alex
Ferguson about his team choices for Tuesday until the pre-match press conference
this weekend for their FA Cup game against Chelsea. Ferguson didn’t attend the
post-match press conference on Tuesday as his assistant Mike Phelan took his
place instead. Phelan said Ferguson was too “distraught” to face the press that
night, something that is likely to put Ferguson and Manchester United in hot
water with Uefa who are obligated to provide reporters with the chance to
interview the manager after the game. While they can certainly feel hard done
by, perhaps on this occasion if Sir Alex Ferguson had done things a little
differently with his team, it may well have been a different story. Fans have
every right to be upset, but they should all remember that they still have a
quality team that will qualify for The Champions League again next season and
that they’ve got a manager who will surely now be more determined than ever to
make sure they can go all the way and win it in Lisbon 2014.
Andrew.
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