Manchester United vs Milan - Post Match Thoughts
Ahmed has written at length about the game, but being writers here, we can’t have enough of analysis, can we? So here is one more. Let’s get it out of my system as soon as possible.
Manchester United were out-thought, out-fought and out-classed. Three things that about summarized the semi final. But for a detailed analysis read on.
Nervousness
Sir Alex in the pre-match talked about continuing with their philosophy of playing attacking football. But their nervousness was epitomized by the very first back-heeled pass that Ronaldo misplaced, just 30 seconds into the match. That United gave away the ball far too often than they have been known for during this season, has been the major cause for their undoing. Hardly did we get to see the ‘attack at speed’ that characterized their best moves prior to this game.
I thought they needed at least 15-20 minutes to settle their nerves and that of the boisterous San Siro crowd by passing the ball around, but that was not to be, as Kaka scored well before the 15th minute. The second goal was a needless gift, nothing more, Heinze culpable on that occasion in the lead up.
Reluctance to win the ball
Try as they might, United struggled to close down Milan’s crowded midfield. Pirlo, Seedorf and Kaka were given acres of space to do their thing. United backed off to Seedorf to give him his goal. (A glance at his compilation videos would tell you not to do so) Michael Carrick didn’t turn up. Although Scholes played much better than the rest, the yellow card might have played in his mind.
Milan on the other hand did the opposite. They closed down every potential United attack with consummate ease, Gattuso taking the major honours here. He also used his knowledge of Scholes and Heinze being on cards in his attempts to wind them up, as well as doing his bit of cheerleading with the San Siro crowd. The result: Dida’s mostly uncertain goalkeeping was hardly tested.
Tactics?
Ferguson’s management style may not be as tactically dependent as that of Benitez or Mourinho or even Ancelotti, but when the 4-5-1 formation was clearly not helping, he might have considered shuffling things a bit, maybe even throwing Alan Smith in (instead of a half fit Saha) as early as the hour, as against the 70th minute introduction of Saha.
I know, I’ll get some harsh things from people for this, but honestly Smudger has shown much more movement ever since his return to the first team than he’s been given credit for, and maybe things might have worked out. Hell, that’s hindsight speaking, so there! Milan were tactically spot on. They have always been clinical, and they really don’t need much chances to score, do they? I believe Liverpool would do much better than United.
Credit to Milan, though. Not taking anything away from them and their crowd. Their experience helped them, and they must now be firmly focused on their revenge mission at Athens.
Of United, they must put this defeat behind them, concentrate on the one trophy that is really their priority. Wrap that up and stay focused on the FA Cup. Win or lose, I thank SAF for giving us a team that, for much of the season, have played breathtaking football. That, I believe, is tonic enough for me to look forward to the years to come.
- Manchester United can beat Milan at San Siro (match discussion)
- CL 2nd Round Draw
- Manchester United: Would you swap Ronaldo for Ronaldinho?
- Football Headlines: 24 April 2007
- Arsenal v AC Milan - 07/08 Champions League 2nd Round Preview
Discussion - 10 Responses
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Ah, what can you say? We were completely outclassed. I can’t remember us creating one real chance to score. What would Utd be like if we had have bough Gattusso? Carrick is not in the same league. Kaka….what a talent.
Rooney/Ronaldo were never allowed to get into the game because our midfield was A.W.O.L. Credit goes to AC though. They were the best team Utd have come across this season.
Having three defenders out on the run up the game did not help at all. I am certian we would have stopped at least one of those goals with a full defence.
It has to be a wake up call for Fergie. For too long this team has got away with “average Prem. players” Carrick,Fletcher, O’shea, Richardson, Heinze, Saha, Smith. Now is the time to offload many of these and bring in some real quality. We could easliy sell 5 or 6 players this summer. Raise £15 million and buy 1 world class youngster. We cannot get away with this.
It’s stil lbeen an excelleent season. We wil lwin the Prem. this season and we have an F.A cup final to look forward to. 2 or 3 world clas players in the sumemr and offload the deadwood and we can give it another good go next season.
Sell 5 or 6 squad players?
What happens when the season goes tits up and 2-3 of the world class players we have get injured? Who’s going to cover for them?
dont even start comparing Carrick to Gattuso, they are completely different types of player
Carrick has shown how good he is in enough matches this season to desrve him keeping the shirt - so dont be rediculous in blaming him for not performing - surely Ronaldo was more culpable with too many tricks and backheels etc that didnt come off!
Yes I believe we should get rid of a few players (Richardson and Silvestre among them ) but what really showed last night was we had no real options - yes Smith should have gone on alot earlier than Saha eventually did but even then I agree that last night proves we need Owen Hargreaves in conjunction with Carrick and Scholes.
Hardly anyone turned up in a UTD shirt - maybe the long campaign is getting to them but hopefully this weekend we can put the EPL to bed (yes Arsenal will take at least a point off Chelsea - they are looking even more jaded than Utd) and then we can rest people for the Cup Final.
There were no midfield options and no really creative players available to feed the likes of Giggs and Rooney (Carrick and Scholes were very well shackled)
Both Heinze and Evra have made significant mistakes recently and had awful performances - but one match doesnt undo their great performances over the last year (or three in Heinze’s case)
[…] did my share of post-match analysis on Soccerlens. Go ahead and read it. On the subject of soccer and Man Utd, I suggest you read this excellent post […]
I have to agree with you, I was dissapointed that a half fit Saha was brought on instead of Smith.
Saha is not a supersub and never will be. It takes time for him to get into the game.
Smudger on the other hand could have come on and lifted the team spirit with his hard tackling style and never say die attitude.
Saha’s been poor ever since the turn of the new year, and I don’t just mean with his performances. His attitude sucks ass. The guy’s a bloody wallflower, and we need winners. I hope we take the money if we get a good enough offer in the summer. Let’s hope Fergie is given enough of a war chest to add the few players we need badly. We just lacked fight against Milan, and it showed…badly.
i think our defence was strangely poor, would have done better if we had neville and ferdinand back. what was ronaldo doing?! he needs 2 learn 2 play as part of the team. and you were right about smithm, he should have come on, replacing perhaps ronaldo. we should have played 4-4-2 from the beginning.
but…. you could tell we were tired, and the referee was too lenient on milan tackles.
Saha is a decent backup if we get a quality striker over the summer. Remember the reason our game was fluid for a good part of this season was due to his presence. (He was there in the first half and contributed well. Let us not forget that.)
This team has potential. Not everyone can win the CL every other day. So let’s not get too worked up about this defeat. The league is the priority at all costs and it will bring a lot of happiness at the end of what has been a brilliant season for the Reds.
we lost.. AC won.. n that was becos they were betta.. its dissapointing, yes.. but lets remember this is the same team dat was expected to win ntg b4 de season began.. i wud say a domestic double n cl semi-final wud really blow all early season expectations apart.. agree wit me or not.. it has still been a good season.. we need a few new players.. prob nani or ribery and hagreaves with rossi comin back.. tho after y’days match i wudnt mind kaka comin in 4 united.. imagine dat.. an attacking midfield wit ronaldo n ribery on de flanks n kaka at de center… explosive pace.. it wud be wicked..
There are times when you wished Fergal wouldn’t resort to that godforsaken 451 which has never really clicked for us. Rooney played almost no part in the game against Milan and was up front all alone. No amount of brilliant First-touching could win you a goalscoring opportunity when youre alone against 4 defenders, that of the quality of Nesta.
Kaka, for me, has shown what it takes to be a truly world class player. He outpaced Vidic by a mile and was simply unstoppable. But the real threat, the man who undid United, was neither Kaka nor Gattuso. It was a 32 year old dutchman by the name of Seedorf. This fellow played like there was no tomorrow. One touch football at its very best. Look at his passes and his movement on and off the ball. Full marks.
As for Heinze, I generally make it a principle not to abuse reds or ex-reds, but I think I’ll make an exception here. Remember the flicked on header that equalized for Germany against Arg in the world cup? Guess who missed his man and was stranded midway. Our left flank on the back has pace, the ability to cross and nothing else. The pair of Gabby and Evra arent defenders. I guess it puts that much more credit into the bag of Gary Neville for being what he is…
Lastly, there was one thing that we missed sorely in the team that was drenched on wednesday. Nope, not ronaldo’s trickery or ferdinand- I believe it is called heart. There was no drive. No passion to close down and to irk the Milanese. The one player who truly showed some drive and desire was probably EVDS. None other. It was the most terrible part of the defeat that we went down tamely. Manchester United. It was gut-wrenching to watch. If there are to be any transfers over the summer, then please Fergie, buy a man of heart. Oh how we miss you Keano…