United took on PSV Eindhoven early this morning in the first United match I’ve seen since the FA Cup. (Match reports: ManUtd.com, BBC, Soccernet.) The match is going to be repeated later but I couldn’t resist staying up to watch. It’s been a while and I’ve been jonesing.
The biggest shock of the day came earlier when Scholes announced his retirement from international football. There doesn’t seem to be a compelling reason for him to do so at age 29. It was suggested it was partly because he was being played out of position at international level and it’s worth noting Scholes has a stubborn, petulant side to him which manifests itself when he doesn’t get his way. He once refused to play in a League Cup match when he was initially having problems playing as a supporting striker.
Regardless of Scholes’s rationale for this, I’m all for it if it means he’ll be fresher and hungrier when playing for United.
Some thoughts on the match:
- The Vodafone Cup is being billed as a tournament of champions and that seems a bit hyperbolic. United finished third in the Premiership last season and their opponents were runners-up in the Dutch domestic league. United did win the FA Cup last season but “Tournament of Champions” is still excessive for a pre-season match.
- Van Nistelrooy led United out against his former club and United ended the match being captained by 18-year-old Chris Eagles. The camera caught Silvestre ribbing Eagles about the unexpected honour at the end of the match and the young player had a slightly sheepish expression on his face as he left for the dressing room. Still, Eagles was impressive in this match and we should see him feature as a second-half sub in a number of matches this season.
- United’s third-choice keeper Ricardo (winner of the 2004 Francesco Totti look-alike contest) had another rare outing between the sticks. He performed well and pulled off a couple of good saves on the rare occasions the Dutch side threatened to score.
- United started with a familiar defensive formation: Gary Neville at right-back, Brown and Silvestre in the middle and O’Shea at left-back. This unit featured regularly in the second half of last season and this is probably Ferguson’s first-choice until Ferdinand’s suspension is over and Gabriel Heinze settles in.
- The midfield unit was just bizarre. Giggs started in the centre of midfield alongside Phil Neville and Eagles with two strikers, Forlan and Saha, playing on the wings. Giggs actually didn’t fare too badly but I think I speak for every United fan when I say we would rather not see the Welshman playing there when the season starts. He did his best to protect the defence but “Good tackle by Giggs” is indisputably one of the rarest phrases in football.
- Van Nistelrooy, just back from his honeymoon, was well-shackled by Bouma for the most part but the Dutch Master did cause PSV some concerns in the 45 minutes he was on. New signing Alan Smith replaced him in the second-half and this was the first time I saw Smith in action in the famous red jersey. It was a typical Smith performance: full of hustle and tough posturing with the physical presence and fully-committed tackles to back it up. The match commentator likened Smith’s playing style to that of United great Mark Hughes and I saw no reason to disagree.
- Silvestre got the only goal of the match in the 26th minute with a header courtesy of a Giggs corner. The French defender has scored from a number of corners in his United career and we should see even more goals from set-pieces from United as a whole this season thanks to the aerial threat posed by Saha and Smith.
United will next take on Urawa Reds in a match that will be televised locally early Friday morning.
