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The Red Devils maintained their perfect record in this year’s Champions League as they secured a hard-fought victory over the resilient Romanian champions CFR Cluj on matchday two.
The United defenders seemingly forgot to hear Ferguson’s press conference the day before as they made yet another shaky start to the proceedings. On the way they conceded a goal off a brilliant Cluj move. Soon, RVP opened his Champions League account for Manchester United with a fortuitous goal from a Rooney free kick.
Strategy Watch
United played with a narrow 4-3-1-2 like formation against a Cluj side that was clearly looking to hit them on the counter. Sticking with the big guns, SAF put up a three-pronged offense with Hernandez sticking up front all the time. Darren Fletcher sat in front of the back-four, with Cleverly and Anderson controlling the play from both sides.
United’s narrow formation meant that they were involved in a lot of interchanges down the middle, but that also meant that the full backs had a lot of work to do, as the Cluj wingers kept on working their engines down the flanks. United saw a lot of the ball, but without the wide players to draw out the defenders out of their positions, Cluj were able to defend with two banks of four.
Wayne Rooney had to sit very deep in the midfield to pull the strings as he covered every blade of grass, cleared in defence, took the free kicks and linked up play; the kind of performance expected of Paul Scholes.
The First Goal
It was woeful defending from Evra as he had no idea where Sougou was and might just as well have sat down on the pitch and watched the byplay. He was taken to the cleaners all through the first half until a hamstring injury forced Sougou off. Evans can’t be blamed much, although the space offered between him and Ferdinand was a major concern.
The Rooney-Persie Combo
The second goal for United would surely leave supporters salivating for more, as the goal couldn’t have been any better than this, with Rooney’s Scholesque vision and Van Persie’s lethal finish.
The superstar combo worked like clockwork, as they combined beautifully to get a second goal when Rooney’s accurate diagonal ball was helped on by Van Persie, who flicked it past the helpless Cluj keeper.
Assessment
The coming of Darren Fletcher proved to be vital for the team, as he provided an alternative to Carrick as the main holding player. He also showed how Carrick must play when he is the holding player.
Patrice Evra had yet another poor match and perhaps it is time to let Buttner gain more match experience. Things could have gotten worse had Sougou not been substituted early in the match as he was giving Evra a harrowing experience down the flank.
The defence still remains a concern for United. They have been falling behind early on in the matches they have played this season. Perhaps Ferguson should appoint a defensive coach the way Wenger did for Arsenal.
David De Gea proved again in this match why he deserves to be the No.1 man for United with an excellent overall game coupled with two terrific reaction saves late in the match.
In pure result terms, Ferguson got exactly what he asked for after last season’s group stage debacle, but this is definitely not the kind of performance expected from a team dreaming of Champions League glory.
