Goals, goals , goals. The magic word. We couldn't get enough of them
last season, with four of United's six group matches in last season's
Champions League ending in goalless draws. This year, they are coming
from all over - Ronaldo, Rio, Scholes, Giggs. It is when John O'Shea
starts getting in on the act, the feeling that the League title drought
is over almost becomes tangible. Any thoughts of doubting this United
team and their capabilities to get a result should have been firmly put
to bed, if not much earlier in the campaign, by the late, late show at
Fulham at the end of February. However, a trip to Anfield was still
going to raise many uncomfortable questions about United's ability to
hold out at the top. Anything attacking from Liverpool was going to be a
better showing than their dreadful display at Old Trafford in October,
and it was evident from the opening period that this time around they
weren't going to concede the three points with a similar whimper .
United's first half performance matched Liverpool's, and indeed Larsson
had the biggest shout for a penalty turned down before the break, but a
penalty at the Kop was probably too much to be asking for. United were
going to have to make their own luck, and ride their luck as well, as
Van Der Sar's breathtaking save from Peter Crouch demonstrated . If
United were under pressure at this juncture, the frustration told on
Paul Scholes. His flailing arm in protest at the referee's awarding of a
free-kick was deemed to be a second yellow, and Fergie was forced into a
rapid tactical rethink. Yet just as at Fulham the week previously,
United weren't going to try and hold out for a point. Like all the
Ferguson sides which have gone before them, this one followed the same
motto - pushing for a winner. Ronaldo's awkward free-kick caused
problems for Jose Reina, and his spilled shot was poached by John
O'Shea, the utility man appearing in the unlikeliest of places to win
it, and to put clear daylight - 12 points to be exact - between
ourselves and Chelsea. Just as David James' errors let in Andy Cole to
effectively win the title for United a decade ago, will it have been
Merseyside on which the 2007 title was also decided? Time will tell, but
for now the smash and grab raid had never tasted so sweet.
Lille came to Old Trafford three days later, with a similar late show on
their minds, but in truth a undeserved winner was the French side's only
hope. They were poor, and the fact that United didn't finish the tie
earlier was the only surprise, waiting until the 75th minute to confirm
their place in the last eight, Ronaldo's sweeping cross headed in
expertly by Henrik Larsson, in what was to be his last home game for the
club before his return to Sweden. With Saha having been injured against
Liverpool, and the Frenchman's general inability to stay fit for any
given period of time, it remains to be seen how costly, if at all,
Larsson's early departure will be. His service has been greatly
appreciated, as was his experience and clever play, always a step ahead
of the opposition in that department. As for the Champions League, there
will be tougher assignments ahead, most immediately in the form of Roma,
and on the evidence of this game, United's display needs a major
improvement if this leg of the Treble chase (whisper it quietly) is to
be kept alive. United's attention then turned to the FA Cup, and the
trip to Middlesbrough, with December 's League tie and the tension over
Ronaldo's penalty not far from the mind. It was to be United who settled
the best, with Rooney's low drive after 23 minutes opening the scoring.
Yakubu threatened soon after, shrugging off Ferdinand to get a shot in,
but again Giggs came close to doubling the lead almost straight away,
hitting an upright. However it was to be Middlesbrough who were to go in
at half-time the happier, after, having weathered the United storm,
stemmed the tide completely with an equaliser, a volley from Cattermole
after a half-clearance by Kuszczak.
Whatever was said at half-time failed to provoke United into a response,
with the players mentally still in the changing rooms if physically on
the pitch, George Boateng running totally unchallenged into the United
penalty area to head Middlesbrough into the lead. Thankfully , this
brought the desired reaction, and at least on this occasion, there was
time to respond. Boateng turned from hero to villain within a matter of
minutes when he handled Rio Ferdinand's header in the box. Ronaldo
finished coolly to congest that fixture list even more, but there was a
collective sigh of relief that we were still in the Cup. Having admitted
to resting players in the League game against Manchester City two days
previously , Southgate's best side were content to play for the draw and
push the game into penalties in the replay, but such an approach, whilst
justified, leaves little margin for error. United, meanwhile, were in no
such mood for a chess game - they wanted the job completed early. It was
to be a frustrating evening though, with Rooney missing a fantastic
opportunity when bearing down on Schwarzer, the Australian winning the
battle of wills. The Middlesbrough defence dealt with all that was
thrown at them, with Woodgate in particular superb , but it will be he
who will be remembered for a clumsy tackle on Ronaldo, who made it a
hat-trick of penalty successes against Southgate's side this season.
From then on, it was less about the football and more about the
Middlesbrough bench's verbals at Ronaldo, with Carlos Queiroz getting
involved to defend the Portuguese winger. Rooney's frustration also
boiled over at the end, exchanging words with James Morrison after he
had been sent off for an absurd lunge at Christiano Ronaldo .. Needless
by Rooney, and something which was also seen for England recently, a
temper that needs to be kept in control or else the team will suffer as
a result .
There were to be few such problems though in the remaining League games
of the month, with Bolton and Blackburn both blitzed at Old Trafford
with apparent ease, although Mark Hughes' side did look like throwing a
spanner in our title ambitions for about three-quarters of an hour last
Saturday. A 4-1 scoreline against both sides revealed exactly what a
on-fire United side can do. The pressure is telling on Chelsea, who
scraped a last-minute winner against Watford on Saturday, and there are
signs they may be the first to crack if anybody is to do so before the
May 9th showdown at Stamford Bridge. In the Champions ' League, there is
plenty of reason to be optimistic after last night's 2-1 defeat to Roma.
The away goal has given United a real chance of progressing, and
although the defence will need to be at full strength to keep out Roma's
counter-attacks , even without Paul Scholes, the magic of Ronaldo,
Solskjaer and Rooney, playing as they were last night, gives great hope.
Ferguson has said that we will have to push from the off and get at
them, and that means no more lone striker formations , and letting the
side get on with what they are doing to devastating effect domestically
, taking games by the jugular. Scholes' two challenges were clumsy, and
he would be the first to admit that, and he will be a huge loss, but it
simply means our other big names stepping up to that level of
performance that Scholes produces so consistently. We will need to score
twice against Roma (remember Porto 2004?) to give ourselves a chance I
feel, but if Saha starts up alongside Rooney, there is every chance
United can pull the tie around.
Less pleasing were the disgraceful scenes of Italian police laying into
United fans, with eleven United supporters brought to hospital after the
game. The reaction from the Italian police was an overreaction in the
extreme, and rather than fan the fire, they fuelled it. It may well take
something as brutal as last night to highlight and bring changes into
how United fans are policed and treated at European grounds. Let's hope
so . A brief raincloud , to call it that, over this month's success has
been the injury of key personnel , Gary Neville, Mick Silvestre, Ji-Sung
Park, Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic. Their replacements are well up to
the job (with some reservations over John O'Shea, admittedly , after the
past week's performances) but we have just to hope that this current
side, playing so well as a unit at the moment, has to suffer no more
enforced tweaking as the run-in now begins in earnest. The title is
surely now United's to throw away. The only question is - how many other
trophies will we still be in the hunt for in a month's time? I'm
dreaming that I'm back in 1999, myself........Until next month,
Keep the red flag flying high,
John Monaghan |