United were extremely fortunate to earn a 2-2 draw with Lyon. (Reports: BBC, Soccernet, ManUtd.com, Guardian)
Several United players put in horrible first-half performances. Djemba-Djemba, in particular, produced what was potentially a career-ending performance in the first-half. The Cameroonian frequently gave the ball away and when he wasn’t doing that he was busy giving away freekicks.
To be fair, he wasn’t the only one guilty of that. Giggs gave the ball away in the Lyon half and then conceded a freekick in a dangerous area in his attempt to halt the resulting counterattack. Juninho’s free-kick seemed simple enough to save but Howard spilled the ball and Lyon’s central defender, Cris, reacted quickly to give his side the lead.
It got worse a minute before half-time. O’Shea’s sloppy pass to Ronaldo was intercepted and the Lyon counterattack that ensued was finished in style by Frau. United really looked dead and buried at that point.
When the going gets tough
I was somewhat shocked Ferguson kept faith in the same 11 that had let him down in the first half for the second. The only change he made was to switch Giggs and Ronaldo and it looked like a masterstroke when the duo combined to create United’s first goal. Ronaldo did very well to keep in Giggs’ overhit cross and the young winger manufactured an excellent cross of his own into the centre of the Lyon penalty area. The quality of the cross was nothing compared to the header van Nistelrooy produced. The Dutchman leapt backwards and had to flick the ball sideways to put it out of reach of the Lyon keeper and into the corner of the net. It was a finish that had ESPN colour commentator Andy Gray purring with delight.
United’s second came five minutes later. A deflection off a Lyon player fell fortunately into van Nistelrooy’s path but there no was element of luck about his finishing which was again of top quality.
United had once again fashioned an implausible comeback and it was enough to bring United fans to their feet. Hell, if it wasn’t about 4AM at that moment I would have been yelling in delight and relief.
Even the most die-hard United fan will acknowledge Lyon should have won it, though. Their young Brazilian player, Nilmar, improbably squandered a golden opportunity to win the match while his compatriot Juninho hit the upright in the final moments of the match. There were also occasions in each half when Scholes had to clear the ball off the line. Scholes even got away with deliberately using his elbow in the box to deflect a freekick away from the United goal.
United were very, very lucky to come away with a point and it’s clear Ferguson has a lot of work to do before Monday’s match against old foes Liverpool. The defence has looked fragile and porous for awhile now. Everyone is expecting Ferdinand to be the qwik-n-easy fix once he returns from suspension on Monday but I’m not as optimistic. It’s going to take him time to get back in the groove.
The midfield is another area that needs tweaking. Keane isn’t the force he once was and that other central midfield slot hasn’t been filled to satisfaction. Djemba-Djemba just isn’t capable of bossing the midfield and indeed, going by this match, he is something of a liability.
See no evil
The Guardian’s The Knowledge section is always a good read and the latest edition has some fascinating United-related trivia. One of the readers also asks if there’s ever been a deaf professional footballer. I can’t recall any and am of the opinion that it would be unlikely. For one thing, a deaf player would be oblivious to the referee’s whistle.
That’s not to say there aren’t any individuals who work in English football despite disabilities. For instance, the Premiership does have a selectively blind manager in Arsene Wenger. (The Frenchman has never been able to see one of his team’s transgressions.)
