Manchester United taught a lesson in quality football, but will they learn?
AC Milan taught Manchester United a footballing lesson. I desperately hope that these players do not forget it and instead, learn from it.
From keeping the ball to pushing Manchester United by tackling and winning the ball back to keeping their discipline, Milan were the superior side, hands down.
Could Manchester United have done better? I think that Liverpool or Chelsea would have played Milan better. Probably Arsenal too, with their ability to keep the ball (assuming they could score, that is). It’s a damning thought for a Manchester United fan to consider that their Premiership rivals are better than them on the European stage, but that’s how things are.
You can read the BBC match report or the Guardian Minute by Minute to get a good view of how the game went on - I’m going to review the good and bad points from the game below, but first, the videos.
Match Videos
AC Milan 1-0 Manchester United (Kaka)
AC Milan 2-0 Manchester United (Seedorf)
AC Milan 3-0 Manchester United (Gilardino)
The Good
- Milan’s tactics and discipline - a very expensive lesson in football but a valuable lesson nevertheless. You can lose two games a season to teams that play good possession football and still be the favourites for the Premiership, but you can’t do that against Milan in a Champions League semi-final. Milan didn’t allow United to even come in the game. Ambrosini, Seedorf, Pirlo and Gattuso (who’s a bloody nutter but a fantastic player) keep harrying United players whenever they had the ball, putting in sliding tackles and closing them down as soon as possible.
They kept their shape, defended well, moved forward and back on the pitch as a unit (mostly all the time) and, it’s trite but has to be said, they kept the bloody ball. You’re always going to be chasing the game if you can’t keep the ball.
- Vidic’s return - it was good to see him back in a United shirt - his presence will be crucial in the final 3 games of the Premiership for Manchester United.
- Seedorf - this guy is absolutely amazing. Why he doesn’t get more recognition in the myopic English media is beyond me.
- Kaka - he has, in the last year (starting from the World Cup and going into this season’s Champions League final - taken over the mantle of the world’s best player from Ronaldinho.
- Carlo Ancelotti - he was the brains behind this win, and while a defeat was always a possibility it wouldn’t have been this comprehensive without Ancelotti’s tactics.
- Gattuso - Apart from that spat with Scholes (see below for details or above for the vid), he was awesome in midfield. Where United dithered in their tackles, Gattuso used the rain and the subsequent wet conditions to his advantage and kept snapping in tackles.
The Bad
- Manchester United - no two questions about it. Afraid to tackle, couldn’t keep the ball and started off on the back foot. There are some people who are more to blame for this than others, but the club must collectively accept responsibility for their actions.
- Fletcher - his job on the pitch is to tackle and win the ball. He didn’t do that. Throughout the game I kept hoping that he’d turn in the same performance that he did at Old Trafford against Liverpool, but Fletcher was either over-awed by the occasion or under explicit instructions from his manager not to tackle. He’s not a great passer, he’s not a natural goal-scorer and if you don’t let him tackle, he’s just taking up space on the pitch.
Fletcher has improved as a player this season, but he had to do more.
- Heinze - poor defending in the first half, allowed the second goal to happen which virtually killed off the game. He was ok otherwise but these matches hinge on small moments like these and he didn’t live up to the expectations.
Mind you, I don’t think Evra would have done any better here.
- Gattuso vs Scholes - I understand Gattuso’s frustration and I know he’s completely ‘in the zone’, but I also understand Scholes’ desire to get a move on and there was absolutely no need for Gattuso to go charging in at Scholes or to keep calling him a fucking bastard after he had gotten a card. For my money, the ref could probably have booked Gattuso a second time for the tirade and it was smart of Ancelotti to sub him immediately afterwards.
When you see the video (or if you remember it from seeing it on the tv), did you notice someone’s hand around Scholes’ neck pushing him back? Sneaky, very sneaky, though I couldn’t make out who that was (it was a Milan player, not Gattuso).
The Future
Over on the chelsea blog someone made a comment that losing one game (critical or not) does not define a full season, and Chelsea have nothing to be depressed about after the way they have battled throughout the season.
I think the same can be said about United. We’ve had a good season - no, we’ve had a great season - and you can’t piss on that because of one bad night.
United will go back to Old Trafford and hope to beat Manchester City and get the Premiership wrapped up as quickly as possible. They may have a 99% chance of winning it but they still haven’t won it, so I’m not taking anything for granted.
Milan have a Champions League place secured for next season and a place in the final. They’ll be up for the big night in Athens, and while it will be revenge night there will also be the understanding that Milan are older (and possibly slower) while Liverpool are a better team than the one that showed up in Istanbul.
The final promises to be more balanced than tonight and a better game than last night.
Milan, Liverpool - let’s see what you guys can do.
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Tonight is a small glimpse into a future without Giggs, Scholes and Neville. These guys have been a big part of the Utd squad for a decade. Replacing them is going to one of the biggest challenges that Ferguson will ever have to face!
Come on… Fletch was the only other decent player apart from scholes and Van der sar.. Not that he did great.
Never been a fan of heinze since the WC. He’s was the worst player on the pitch. Very poor ball control and he gives away possession. Plus he lacks composure when players are close to him. The combination of the three is horrifying.
And he was caught off position more than once. Vidic was playing left back for some time. And he slips!!! :O
But Ronaldo didn’t help him in any way today. Zero support from him, plus he lost his discipline. This made life difficult for Heinze indeed.
Evra would’ve been much better. His ball control for a defender is amazing. Great pace and attacking ability.
Gosh! I think i’ve said this already a hundred times…
Gattusso = Prick. MOM performance( but a lot of help from the ref). He should’ve been booked for the number and the timing of the fouls on Ronaldo. He wouldn’t have been able to stop him then in the second half.
TERRIBLE.
I fail to understand why when we play Milan we always end up getting a masterclass …
I think the performance can be summed up as INEPT.
We lost EVERY 50-50 challenge. Roy Keane would’ve been breathing fire.
Ahmed - Seedorf put in a wonderful performance. But he does not do so on a regular basis. Ordinarily he gives the ball away with assiduity and tries over-ambitious long balls and shots. He has in fact been living off of a reputation built some time ago, yet he no longer plays with anywhere near as much verve or consistency.
Bummer
They didn’t deserve a 3-0 victory, did they?
Damn it, I thought so too. I’d still take this, our situation, UCL semis, EPL leaders and in the FA cup finals.
We’re still the best performers in Europe i’d say.
The injury to Rio and Vidic has been the biggest blow to the team…..It blew the CL…Cant harp on it but Man utd must realize that You cant send players on loan and then say we dont have the depth…..You need a big squad and I think Utd just didnt have one….The Premiership is still not over…so these are testing times…..
Truly , I will have to say that I never had any doubts or gave up on AC MILAN even thou they had a close game in old trafford , I knew they would come on top in the end . SO enough with the talking , I must now go and celebrate probably get in a fight with a couple of munchies ……..SEE YA IN ATHENS !!!!!
we just plain didn’t turn up. scholes looked like he didnt want to get carded. and that takes out his aggression and reflected on the team sitting back. we just handed liverpool the champions league. brilliant.
ManU beat Roma, Roma beat Milan, and Milan beat ManU…
it’s like playing janken in japan or what you call paper, scissor, and rock…
Credit to Milan where credit is due - they beat Manchester United rather easily. The Italians have always been very good and skilled players on the ball - and they showed that tonight.
Kaka has to be one of the best - if not THE best player - in the world - he was just fabulous.
The Liverpool - Milan final will be very interesting - given what happened two years ago - but Liverpool will give Milan a game - but would expect Milan to be favorites.
Should be great game - cannot wait.
It was a defeat that I could promptly take. We were totally out-played by a better team. I have nothing to say.
It exposed a major problem that we had been discussing for a long time but has been buried by the great season we are having - we don’t have a Keano/Guttaso type of defensive midfielder. Scholes/Carrick/Fletch are not DMs.
And that s why we need to bring in DM(s) this summer.
“Roy Keane would’ve been breathing fire”.
That’s exactly what I was thinking watching the first half of the match. I just couldn’t watch the second. They were totally outplayed. I’m trying to take solace in the fact that at least Chelsea’s not in the final, but it doesn’t help. But yes, so who’s gonna replace Giggs and Scholes?
Forza Milan!
Milan outclassed Man U not only in attacking finesse but more shockingly in defensive grit and playing hussle throughout the entire pitch. Sure Rio would have had more to say on the matter if he were on the field and sure his absence in defence is as critical as Ronaldo’s absence would be in attack, but that’s only concerning one-third of the pitch. Nonetheless, what was most impressive about Milan’s tackling in general is the crisp, clean, and fair way in which it was carried out; which is something the premiership is very backwards at!
Kaka was inspired, and is certainly the most efficient player in the world; yet I wouldn’t go as far as calling him the best - which is a spot I still reserve for Ronaldinho. At any rate, the whole of Milan was enthused, even the unlikeable Oddo was outstanding. Nothing but top marks for Milan overall, who are more than favourite to win it all. I don’t care if liverpool are better than two years ago, or if they play 11 men behind the ball, or if they are said to be playing for the only trophy at offer to them with nothing to lose, whichever way they will not matchup against Milan in any shape or form.
As for Man U, they have a lesson to learn from - like Ahmed said, and not one to squander if they aspire to greatness. On the other hand, the premiership is in the bag for sure because Sir Alex is going to have his players’ heads for trophies if they throw this one away. The players themselves are not going to be in need of any motivation to close the league out in style, especially against the flimsy opposition awaiting them. Having said that, the encouters with Chelsea - both in the league and cup, are going to be tense affairs; Man U will be wanting to give nothing away in the league while Chelsea will be wanting to relinquish none in the cup, and both will not be wanting to surrender anything in terms of moral victories. I dare say the drama is still on a high note, even though I believe it has nothing to do with the outcome of the league and all to do with the cup!
I know its probably irrelevant in hindsight but wasn’t Oddo’s foul on Rooney a penalty? That sure wasn’t football that he was playing…
Kudos to Milan for playing a great game!
C’mon Reds - Get your heads up!
I think we’ve played quality football a lot of times already. We never needed any lessons from an other club. We’ve been the best performing club in Europe this season(assuming we win the league or the “best performing club” goes to Chelsea.
We were shite tired yesterday, we could barely run.That explains most of it… Chelsea had the same problems, both the teams have struggled recently, but Everton did us a favour by gifting us goals, unlike Middlebrough and Chelsea got no favours from Newcastle and City.
I’d probably treat the FA cup like the Carling cup and wouldn’t play my first team from next season if i were Fergie. The bench and some other youngsters should have a go in the FA and Carling cup tourneys.
Milan played superbly well on a night when the Man U youngsters performed below-par. We have a young team who hopefully can learn from this lesson. The loss of Vidic, Neville and Ferdinand did bad for Man U, how good it could be if we have bring a 2-0 lead to San Siro (instead of 3-2). Next season Man U will be back. And yes, we can still do a double in this season, a great one i agree.
Milan played a brilliant game.
We played a shit game.
It seems like we wanted to match Milan’s type of play, therefore the defensive formation. This caused the midfield to be crowded which helped Milan’s midfielders to close any United player down quickly. I think we might have been better off playing a wide 442. Then again, what does it matter now. I’m dissapointed. Actually, I’m more upset than dissapointed because we threw it away. We really could have won it. Damn… just one more game…
I think Rooney,ronaldo and others will gain a lot of experience from this….Ronaldo will know that his tricks are meant for EPL and you can do that against quality players….I think Man utd had a great season…Sure we lost but its not like its the end of the world….They will learn for sure…Iam sure its also some sort of positive news cos Saf will be around for say at least 3 years it seems….But got to say we dont have players like Gattuso and Seedorf…They were simply brilliant…This is where man utd has to learn….Until they do that they will continue to fail in Europe…so get 2 great midfielders with no nonsense…..Plus a right back…I think Neville was missed big time….
We lost to abetter team.
But as most people are saying, we need to have squad depth.
I will also question the coach and managers’ decision to play without gritty players like kieran richardson and Alan smith.
We have players out on loan like Guiseppe rossi and Gerald pique who would have probably helped the team with youthful dispalys.
Sell Fletcher, Saha, O’Shea and a few of the squad players we have and buy matchwinners.
That’s our main problem, we might be having a good season comparative to the previous two years but next season we may suffer if injuries and suspensions are anything to go by.
And we can’t always depend on Rooney and Ronaldo to save us from every situation.
Sir Alex, bring in young hungry players even if you have to go watch players in Africa and South america, we need to think outside the box.
We remain hopeful of FA Cup and league trophy.
Always a Red.
Liverpool Milan again, No Suprises here.
Liverpool play for 1 cup a season, their tactics - Cement Europe and rest everyone for the remainder of the season!!
Milan pretty much did the same because they had points deducted from the start of the season hence why they are fresher too. SHould be a great final.
Really disappointed from the game, but more dissapointed with the Premier League. It seems that there is no support from EPL for English clubs performing in European competitions, at least not like Serie A supports their own clubs. ManUtd were tired and physically not prepared to challange Milan who simply outplayed us and pressured us all over the park. ManUtd never looked as a team being able to reach the final due to a lack of concentration and as mentioned earlier physical strength. Let’s not forget one thing though: Serie A is a much easier league to play due to a football mentality in Italy (much slower tempo) whereas EPL is a much tougher league requiring much more physical abilities and concentration. Generally speaking, I’m not that sad because we are still in two more competitions (compared to many other teams who invested much more then we did in terms of buying players and could not even reach a quarter-final), and still believe we can end this season with at least one cup.
United We Stand
“I know its probably irrelevant in hindsight but wasn’t Oddo’s foul on Rooney a penalty? That sure wasn’t football that he was playing…”
Yes it was a penalty. I am a Utd fan and even though i think it was a penalty, it pains me to say also that it probably would have made little difference as Milan could’ve taken another goal quite easiliy.
i think Milan will win the CL….liverpool is nowhere as good as MU as we beat them twice this season!
fletcher was shit…cudnt score with a good chance….but i dun blame vidic, he tried his best….heinze sucks, but evra wud not do any better, perhaps the score wud hav been worse if he was playing! hahahaha!
fergie shud have played smith or ole from the start of the second half….
again non domestic league champion is playing for the CL!
I may be wrong, but I feel there doesn’t seem to be a encouragement in the team. SQF/CQ should have had a motivation talk before the game. Players looked as if their blood were sucked, fragile, desperate, panicky, tiered. The away-atmosphere simply killed them.
The same feeling should not happen when the visit Man City/Chelsea.
Personally I believe the real reason United lost was that they utterly terrified of sliding tackles. Whereas for some reason in the San Siro Gattuso has the right to tackle from behind for an entire match, and only get booked for trying to kill someone, United knew if they touched a Milan player they’d be booked. I thought the ref was horrendouly biased in the 50/50 fouls, coudln’t count the number of times a simple physical encounter from United was a foul, but from Milan must have been ‘good pressing’ or something. Gatusso’s tactic on Ronaldo was wait til he cuts it back, then take his legs out, lets see him dribble without them. Must have done it half a dozen times. First time Ronnie does thte same thing, yellow.
Milan were great, don’t get me wrong, but I really believe the key difference was United didn’t slide tackle, couldn’t close downn, and couldn’t ‘nip at heels’ because they’re scared of European refs. I don’t know who told them not to, but it was terrible to say the least.
I have to agree with you Beachryan. United did seem a bit scared of tackling properly unlike gatusso who would go all in.
The main difference between the two teams was the tackling. Whenever United had the ball you’d see a milan player closing in and tackling whereas United seemed content to sit back and let milan do what they do best.
Ronaldo was terrible!! As soon as I saw him come out at the start I could see on his face that this was not going to be his night. He didn’t look confident at all, he looked a little terrified if anything at all.
Rooney had an OK night but got quite frustrated on his own upfront.
Fletcher didn’t look like the player we have seen emerge this season. He didn’t seem to tackle as much as he normally does. I thought the main reason he was in the side was so that he could negate the inability of carrick and scholes to tackle.
The defence was awful. Theres something about heinze!! He seems to have had a terrible season. I think the emergence of evra has had an effect on him.
Vidic seemed a bit rusty to me but then there were no other options for united as evra was suspended so heinze had to go on the left and there ws nobody else to put in the center, well apart from ferdinand who also is coming back from injury.
Giggs didn’t seem to have much of an effect either. He couldnt get the ball past the milan players and his crosses werent’t great either.
The one player who did decent in my opinion was scholes. Ok he couldn’t produce a brilliant pass for rooney like he has over recent games but his passing was still good.
All in all a lot to learn for United.
My only hope is that we get back up from this knock and give City a good hiding on saturday.
Ahmed, its a miracle. Everything youvve written on this has been spot on (especially about seedorf). Im trying really hard to find a fault, but cant.
Anyway, to all Man Utd fans, even though you got thoroughly outplayed last night I think you shouldnt let this resul ruin whats been a great season.
Whatever happened in milan has happened due to the wealth of experience of milan players….I think rooney and ronaldo and co did a fantastic job all through this season….One day they will take utd to glory in europe….its just experience that they need …..they are still young….The team has had a great season and kudos to them…..No fan should complain saying they are not quality…Its just one night where they were exposed due to lack of experience….The defeat does more good to utd than harm cos they would learn from it….I dont think we can be angry at the way they lost cos they gave us every week some great entertainment….They will be there lifting that cup surely in the future…..Milan will soon have start rebuilding their side too…Maybe thats when Utd can teach them how to play football….
Ahmed I must say Soccerlens has built up quite a reputation.
Loads of people seem to be reading it.
Obviously you are doing something right
I find myself coming to your site quite regularly
Keep up the good work.
Do you know where your readers come from?
I always find it interesting to find out what part of the globe readers for my websites come from…
thanks for the kind words. email me if you need to discuss anything specific.
The Gunners had nothing left to win,
Their title and cup hopes thrown in the bin.
So they made their way to Milan, home of the San Siro
To see Ronaldo’s magic; United’s supposed hero.
3-2 in the Devils’ favour from the first game
Rooney and Ronaldo’s talent to blame
But in Italia, land of football fame
Man Utd, like sheep; were totally tame
They played on the left and they played on the right
They played with all they had, all their might
But they were outclassed, ‘defeat’ a word too polite
They were fucking shite, now that sounds about right
There goes the precious treble
They won it once, now just a fable
Ronaldo, the best player in Europe? Hahahaha
No man the name you’re looking for spells K-A-K-A!!!
P.S Heinz means beans
Heinze means fuckup, then a goal!!
Some of the comments talk about united coming out of this more experienced …. didn’t we hear the same thing in 2005. Wasn’t this supposed to be the more experienced side.
Milan won fair n aquare. There was no bias. Gattuso was reading ronaldo perfectly.
Finally what i want to know is .. how was a team of milan’s age running around and chasing balls .. closing down players as soon as they recieved the ball while manchester united never seemed to be anywhere near the milan player with the ball.
Finally… i swear .. i didnt see carrick in the game even once. Scholes and ronaldo were atleast visible giving the ball away or coming away empty handed in tackles .. i just didnt see carrick. N not too much of fletcher either. N god knows what giggs was doing???
The game was lost in the midfield. the wingers got taken out of the game and scholes carrick and fletcher is hardly a dream midfield combination. They sucked.
I don’t think owen hargreaves will do much better.
We need top class mid fielders, a right back a left back and an out n out striker for rooney to play with.
I really think rooney would be more lethal as an attacking midfielder (taking over from scholes i guess .. in a kaka kind of way)
i always tell people, playing at home has an advantage, AC Milan deserved more than 3 goals they were playing their ball, um really disappointed by the Man U play, they should learn from this game.period
lol…..yeah and gooner arsenal have been amazingly wonderful this year havent they? lol
Gooner - That was not nice of you write that but it was so damn funny
It was Nesta’s hand around Scholes neck. Gattuso is an incredibly ferocious player; who wouldn’t want him in their side. Go Milan!
I agree with Gooner .. on almost everything actually …
I hope Ronaldo realises that his “one trick pony antics” only apply to the Premiership. Kaka, by far, is a more complete footballer.
We were completely outclasses last night. The scousers don’t stand a chance against this brilliant Milan team.
the bastard who wrote that is one of my mates…
even though I am a United fan it did make laugh a bit.
he was quite stoned when he wrote this.
i think the word that describes uniteds performance is ‘gash’. the conditions werent the best to play in yet Milan didnt let that affect them. They obviously wanted it more and made sure of that by having so much posession.
Not once did United look threatening. Although Milan played well and showed their stamina throughout the match, it’s still sore the way they act even when winning. Taking 10 mins to take a goal kick, faking injuries. Any time-wasting antics you can think o,f Milan (and other Italian teams) will do.
I find that with foreign team, there is little sportsmanship in their game. I think had it been an english team or a team with better sportsmanship and more of a nack to actually play the game instead of wasting the time left, then a) united may have had a better chance and b) it would have been less sore to lose.
Still, in saying that, i do hope Milan beat Liverpool because i dont think i could personally stand Liverpool winning it again, even though i feel they are a much more professional team.
There is a fine line between:
being being happy that your team is winning an important match
and
utter arrogance and vanity.
I think last night Gattuso showed just how far over that line he really is. The winding up of Scholes (could be seen lookin back to ref to see whether he was watchin him so he could continue shouting at him and giving scholes the wanker sign). You wouldnt have had any of that had it been a team that was professional about what they do.
United did play appaulingly and they have only got themselves to blame by not sticking a foot in but it makes it worse when you put it together with the arrgoance and time wasting antics that milan show.
Manchester United are still a brilliant football team and on a given day with the right players and mentality are capable of giving MIlan the same treatment. This season has proved that Manchester United still play the best football in England and based on one nights performance cannot be branded any lesser than any other european team out there.
You can come up with a lot of points as to why United lost yesterday like tiredness, injuries, intimidation, possesion play, skills, shots on goal etc… but at the end of the day United have been there and done all of that during this whole season… So I still believe that people belittling United are just talking out of their arse.. my only concern is hoping United regain their confidence quickly and take back the title and FA cup by playing the same way they have over this season..
Go United !
I hope Ferguson has them motivated for Saturday.
oh no it doesn’t ahmed.
We still have to wrap up the title and also we have to make sure the only trophy chelsea have this season is the League Cup.
Well, no. I wouldn’t like a player like Gattuso in United. The man is possessed. This is not football what he’s playing. It’s something else. Football is a form of art and he is exactly the opposite. If this is what it takes to go to the final, then let them go. OK, we had a bad night, but more CL semis will come the following years for us. I wouldn’t say the same for Milan. After all, everybody knows that we played the best football in Europe this season, and that’s good for me.
Ahmed, I know what you mean and how you feel. I felt the same. I think it was not the fact that we’re out of Europe, but more so the fact that we came so close. In hindsight, imagine we went through and had a performance like that against Liverpool in the final? I suppose this is a “blessing in disguise”.
I’m kinda recovering now, but I am still so sick of “…our team learnt a lot from it…”, “…next year will be better…”, “…showed our inexperience…”, etc. We hear the same last year, and the year before, and before, and most probably next year as well. Will this ever end?
Then again, SAF always said the league is priority number one. This way at least, next year, we can be True Champions.
Mate if any of you was watching the game.. MAn utd should of got at lease 2 Penatly, AC Milan a bag of yellow card and Gattuso sent off….. The bloody ref was bias as hell… no offence…. there was quite a few tackle which should of got yellow or red card in any league
Stop running all your mouth like this is the end of the road for MU. The season is still not over and there is still two trophies to play for. Winning the league will put us up with a shout to win the CL next year. We are not the latest casualties that lost to inferior squads, ask Inter and Barcelona. It’s just we should have made more of a stand that whittle out like that. Though much is put down to the defense, I still think we need a ball winner and an infectious leader in the squad that can stay fit. The night in Milan, we showed we missed Keane. If Maldini can play until 39, why can’t Keane and great players from the EPL?
Perhaps we needed a player like Keane/cantona to get things
to get us up when we where at our lowest.
There was not even a come back in the end
True True…… Keane is one of the best all time DM imo and we need to get some one just like him…. if we are going to grow as a team….