Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
Remember the days when Manchester United used to be defensively sound, when you could rely on Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic at the back in front of Edwin Van der Sar. A mean defence which hardly gave away chances, let alone goals on a regular basis, weren’t those the good old days?
Fast forward to October 2012 and United at the back look about as secure as a Number 11 batsmen does facing a Lasinth Malinga Yorker in Limited-Overs cricket. It certainly has been a worrying start to the season for United who have incredibly conceded first in 8 of their 12 matches this season.
That’s a statistic that certainly has to change and drastically change fast if United are to make up for the wrongs of last season. At a push you can play catch-up against the likes of Braga and Cluj in the Champions League but you cannot do it against the top sides in the Premier League.
Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City will all be harder to break down and certainly will not tire in the later stages of the game like Antonio Salvador’s team did last night. Their players are fitter, better and will be able to dictate the pace and flow of the game once they have taken the lead.
Braga couldn’t do that last night – despite storming into a deserved 2-0 lead through a double from Alan – which allowed United to wake up and grab the game by the scruff of he neck, which they did so well in the second-half.
Javier Hernandez’s goal shortly after Alan’s second had a big-say to do with that of course. Had United not reduced the arrears before the break it would have made life just that bit tougher in the second-half and would have given Braga more confidence that they could have seen the game out.
Yes fans will say that Hernandez was unlucky not to score two more on the night thanks to some poor calls from the linesman, however the facts are that right-now teams are confident when playing against United and that’s a problem.
United will need to roll up their sleeves in their next two league games – against Chelsea and then Arsenal – in the same way that they did at St James’ Park before the International break when they outclassed Alan Pardew’s dangerous Newcastle – if they are to have any chance of picking up maximum points.
Right now you’d have to say that is a tough task, but despite a bad start to the season, United only are 4 points behind Roberto Di Matteo’s Premier table-toppers and are due a win at Stamford Bridge, where aside from Wayne Rooney’s winner in a Champions League quarter-final in 2010, they have not tasted victory in the league since 2002.
Either way a clean sheet would be welcome on Sunday. A win on current-form would be something quite remarkable to say the least, then again United down the years have often found a way to win key games, often when not playing well.
By Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87
we have vidic, smalling and jones to return–relax…..barca lose 3 of their top defenders and guess what, teams are scoring at will