Manchester United vs AC Milan - First Leg Review
Most of the early reviews of last night’s game are already in and having read them all, I thought some of them missed key points. Made me wonder if I had seen the same game as everyone else. Here’s my take on the game.
To start with, it was a really open game, which was a surprise. I expected it to be a little bit cagier than this. To see Carrick waltz his way unmarked into the milan penalty box and get to the end of a cross (and make a hash of it uncharacteristically) was really surprising. Old as they are, milan’s defense is still stingy by any standards. In fact before this game, they had only given up 1 goal away from home in the entire campaign.
That really does highlight united’s attacking threat and how much they have improved since the 2005 meeting. All the pundits are lauding manchester uniteds ‘brilliant’ win and predicting an all english final already.
I beg to differ. There were vast periods in the game where milan were completely on top. They were playing in their little triangles and making life difficult for manchester united. In fact, the middle third of the game reminded me of the 2005 encounter where milan had looked utterly comfortable on the ball and manchester united were left chasing shadows. Milan are still capable of that kind of possession. The key to that is Gattuso. Till the time he was on the field, manchester weren’t getting anything in the midfield and most of their attacks were getting cut off. The red devils were losing possession regularly in the final third and allowing milan to break through kaka and seedorf. Manchester fans should be praying that gattuso misses the return leg. In the 51 minutes he lasted, to me, he was the most effective player in the midfield.
On the opposite end of the performance spectrum is Ronaldo. His performance was terrible by all accounts. More so, because he had the measure of fullbacks and pretty much the whole milan defense. However, his frustrating tendency to try to do it all alone was again on display. He was routinely seen moving away from his teammates and then getting cornered in impossible positions from where he had little option but to shoot useless shots. Towards the latter part of the game, he did start using his teammates but it was too little too late.
Ronaldo has transformed himself this season primarily by changing his thinking, his skill level and speed remain the same as last year. The difference is that this season, he has been using those skills to work with his teammates. Yesterday that was not the case and we saw the ronaldo of old. Not very effective. What he should be doing is running at the defense and then getting in the killer pass, the way giggs did for the third goal.
Another important thing i wanted to mention was the lack of quality on the freekicks. With two teams boasting ronaldo, giggs and pirlo, it was a shame that no one even hit the target (though giggs and pirlo did come close). These players are expected to atleast hit the target and produce a save from the keeper every time. Who knows what happens on the rebound with the likes of kaka and rooney lurking around? At this level, each wayward freekick is a letoff.
Finally, to conclude the review, it was a mixed game. High on entertainment but fluctuating in quality. There were a couple of really high quality goals (kaka’s first and rooney’s last gasp winner). That aside it was poor defending and poor goalkeeping that let the others in.
Looking forward, I won’t give manchester united the advantage going into the second leg. On the face of it, they have it easier, a draw will take them through. But with their defensive frailties, I expect milan to score. Manchester must go in with an aim of scoring 2 goals. If they get that and defend in a reasonable manner, we’ve got an all english final on our hands.
And yes, scholes ’scoop’ was inspired.
All the latest football headlines.
[...] the match report. Here’s a second match report with a critical analysis of the performances from both sides. The goals are below, and the original [...]
I think you’re right about many things, but perhaps a bit harsh on certain points.
One - I don’t think Milan were on top for long periods of the game. They certainly had spells, just as United think but I see it as a 50-50 battle, although United had more men going forward than Milan.
Two - the second United goal came out of no where. Apart from the first one, the rest were sheer class.
Three - you’re right about Ronaldo playing the lone ranger - he had to play as part of the team and he didn’t do that too well. It’s something Ferguson will work on next season, I guess.
Comparing Kaka to Ronaldo is unfair though. Ronaldo is more Ronaldinho than Kaka. Different styles of play.
Quality of the game was pretty good in my view, certainly several notches above what I’m seeing on the telly right now (Chelsea vs Liverpool).
Having said all that, a good review. Welcome to Soccerlens
Thanks …
I agree I might have been a bit harsh, but I think there’s no way we can call this a ‘Great’ result for Manchester United. They did give up two priceless away goals. The good thing is that now the second leg is set up with both teams having to aim for victory.
And ofcourse, it’s a given that any game involving Manchester United will be much more entertaining than liverpool Or Chelsea.
Chelsea and Liverpool are the cure for insomnia, I swear.
Lol - Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool. One moment of brilliance to decide it, but like all season, you had the feeling that if Liverpool scored Chelsea would take it up a notch.
And they probably will at Anfield, because there, Chelsea will score.
Must say the return leg at Anfield will probably be very interesting, at least in terms of the result. I’m not sure who I’d rather go through.
Didn’t Giggs hit the target? I recall Dida making an easy save in the final 15 minutes from a Giggs freekick.
Milan Vs United at very many times felt like the peak of Italian football Vs the peak of English football. Whilst I certainly don’t want to portray United’s victory as some sort of allegory for the superiority of English football (I think we’ve all heard enough arguments about the superiority of different ’styles’ of football to last us a lifetime) I do think it presents and interesting way of analyzing this match.
Milan showed their superior passing, and all-round technical skills, throughout a great majority of the game and gave United the run around. United’s strategy, on the other hand, was to go down the wings and cross the ball in (although I would argue that at some points in the game they weren’t crossing enough).
However the reason why United were essentially dominant in this game is that Milan’s play was totally inneffective. The fact is that at NO POINT IN THE ENTIRE GAME did anyone on Milan’s team other than Kaka look like scoring (here’s probably as good a time as any to dispel any sort of theory that their inneffectiveness underpins any difference in style between English and Italian football: many times throughout this season Arsenal have played exactly the same and if United didn’t have to rely on the likes of Fletcher and O’Shea I imagine our passing would have been exponentially better). In my opinion this was nail one in Milan’s coffin.
The second nail in Milan’s coffin can be expressed in one word, as you already mentioned: Gattuso. He’s one of those players which you don’t miss until they’re gone. Notice how the second he came off United weren’t marginalized to the wings and hoping for a cross to find the right man in the box. Scholes was able to dominate the central play and both he and Giggs, playing more central because he was a left footer playing on the right wing, were give plenty of time on the ball (which lead to the second goal) and also allowed the more defensive players to get forward and ask the question - Fletcher, Carrick and O’Shea getting shots and crosses in the second half. There’s no more evidence that Gattuso’s absence cost AC Milan than the simple fact that United back four seemed under more pressure on the ball than their midfield players.
I thought we came out fantastic with the early goal.
(sidenote: when this happens, sometimes United sluff off and let the other team in the game. Alothough not the case in this one, Milan played their way back into it)
Milan regrouped and dominated play until they got a classic Kaka goal. An few counters from United, but nothing effective. Milan really put the pressure on when they turned the ball over in our box. I thought that was a great strategy for them with United’s makeshift defense and all. I thought they might nick a goal, but we had some pretty savy passing out of the back. That really put off United’s quick attack. As mentioned in previous posts, Gatusso played a major role with that.
Then a MAJOR mistake gifted a goal to Kaka, although I must admit he played it perfectly and made us look like Keystone Kops. That stunner kept us a bit cautious for the rest of the half.
At halftime SAF made the game winning decision IMO. Switching Ronaldo on the left let Giggs mark the RB and allowed for SuperFletch to mark Seedorf, who subsequently faded from the game along with Milan’s attack.
United were then free to play their game: attack, attack, attack. And the goals came.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
SECOND LEG RESULTS:
AC MILAN 3 0 MANCHESTER UNITED
(KAKA 3 GOALS)
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
SECOND LEG RESULTS:
LIVERPOOL 1 1 CHELSEA
(CHELSEA WINS 2-1 ON AGGREGATE)
Full points for wishful thinking
omg