Yawn, Then Excitement as United beats Wolves in CC (10.26.10)

Hello,

As the English might say, the first half was dismal.  A not-so-full Old Trafford watched as Sir Alex Ferguson made 11 changes from the team that played at Stoke on the weekend and yawned for the first 45 minutes.  A game of first starts as Ben Amos got his first start of the season along with Bebe, the relatively-unknown striker signed in the summer for £7.4 million from Portuguese side Vitoria de Guimaraes.

Speaking of Babe, the second half started much better as the new winger opened his United bank acount with a fortunate opening goal before George Elokobi equalised for Wolves.  Park Ji-Sung, who is struggling to find his form this season, made it 2-1 to the home side but Kevin Foley pulled Wolves level again.  More United defensive problems.

Before I get to the Hernandez goal, what else happened?  Not a great showing for either Gabriel Obertan or Federico Macheda whose best chance came when he sent a shot straight at Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.  At the beginning of the second half, Wolves winger Matt Jarvis kept running down the right and sent over a ball to the far post that Steven Fletcher missed wide.  Gibson had another so-so game with the highlight maybe being a swerving free-kick that was on target...unfortunately, swerved straight into the goalkeepers arms.

No one, not even the fans want extra time in the early round of the Carling Cup in this writer's opinion so Ferguson took off the, shall I say tired-looking Bebe for the weekend's goalscoring hero Hernandez.  The young Mexican-International was immediately influential, sending Obertan sprinting in on goal but his finish was once again disappointing (see above).  Hernandez's eye for the back of the net would not be denied however as, in the very last minute of normal time, he left two Wolves defenders in a heap and lifted the ball with ease over Hennessey.

Overall, another ok game for the young players who hopefully learned from their mistakes.  Bebe got in almost a full game along with Smalling, Gibson and Macheda. 

This writer wants Ipswich Town in the next round.

Derek

A CL Win Overshadowed By Loss (v. Bursaspor, 10.20.10)

Hello,

I will keep this review short and sweet because I am heading out of town but I also want to spend some time thinking of what I will write regarding Wayne Rooney.  As readers know, he has been my favorite player since 2003-2004.  I have mixed thoughts and emotions on the issue but I will write on it later.

Regarding beating the Turkish League champions 1-0 at Old Trafford, it was not a great game.  You could feel the energy was drained out of the fans at the theatre of dreams, the manager and maybe the players.  This is a game where United should have went out, at home, and scored at least 3-4 goals to gain that confidence.  They did not.  In my opinion, they played terrible.  Especially the mid-field.

Sorry for the short blog but I am gutted about the Rooney stuff.

Derek