The manner of last night’s draw with FC Basel will have raised a few eyebrows not only at United but at other clubs in England and Europe.
Surrendering a 2 goal lead, defensively poor, these aren’t things we have come to expect of Manchester United so it is understandable that there has been quite an outcry even if the wrong personnel are taking the flak.
At the back the seniors, Ferdinand and Evra did little to calm their two younger team mates. Ferdinand was uncharacteristically shaky whilst the poor positioning that has dogged Patrice Evra recently was again a factor in the result.
After such wonderful highs came a bump back to reality as Phil Jones’ lack of experience became apparent (what I will say in his defence for the penalty is that it is commendable that he tried to play the ball out of defence rather than hoof it, we need ball players!)
The defence may have been poor but I think they were afforded little to no protection from the midfield as has been the case in recent games thus Basel were able to have 14 shots and score 3 goals. We aren’t Arsenal so conceding 3 goals at home isn’t acceptable, we’ve been able to get away with cavalier performances previously but against Basel it caught up with us.
I’m over the moon for Danny Welbeck, great for him to get his first two Champions League goals and continue to give Sir Alex something to think about. It had been thought that he would struggle to get back into the team after the hamstring injury but he is rather fortunate that both Rooney and Hernandez are both injured and he is taking full advantage.
Ryan Giggs provided two more assists, the man is a footballing machine and continues to show, despite all the nonsense off field, he is a class apart.
Apart from that late scare, David De Gea looked good and if not for that save with his feet we could well have lost this match. His performances are improving and whilst people were quick to pick up on his mistakes the praise has been a little muted.
Here are your thoughts from our Facebook page, if you haven’t joined yet what are you waiting for?
Ben M: I thought Evra’s performance was a disgrace like he was playing a training game and not bothered to get back. Taking off Ando was a mistake as I thought he did really well. Positives though was Welbeck coming back and Ashley Young and Jones were immense again.
Alom M: Defence completely disappeared, Rio looked off the pace, Jones/Fabio inexperience exposed but what got me most is that after they scored, we stopped creating for a little while and it was like it took their 3rd goal as a kick up our backsides to spark our attack again but well done to Basle, to come from 2-0 down to almost win that game hats off to them!
Anthony C: Not enough tempo, very sloppy defence. Again, what is Carrick doing? What does he bring to this team? Basle had nothing to lose and played without fear, but without someone hustling next to Ando we just get overrun. Very poor.
Christopher C: They got the 2 goal lead and thought they had the 3 points. They stopped playing. Disgrace!
Mick J: We have no quality central midfield players. Forget the players we were missing that side should have been good enough to win. It’s a crime to have quality wingers and we can’t get the ball to them. Carrick was shocking yet again and i was disappointed with Evra. Need to get Cleverley back in quick and buy some class midfielders in January.
Lionel U: Fabio was poor as was Carrick it was a mistake to not have Valencia as RB and Nani should have started along with Park at centre back.
Blaine R: I’m in shock that we let them back in. They pulled a Man United on us, they got something out of a game we should’ve put to bed. The lack of quality in midfield is showing.
Mohammed A: I would trade Carrick for a pizza, as for Evra we should look for a new left back, and barbatov (sic) just why he is a 4th striker.what a disgrace.
Johnno P: Exactly the reason Sneijder was meant to have been bought for, not only to produce in midfield but step up in Europe. Lack of experience shown from Jones despite his talent.
This is Galatasaray 1993 all over again..over
Gavin L: We were lucky 2 go in 2 up at half time & that should’ve set alarm bells ringing! It obv spurred on Basel & we almost paid for poor central midfield play which spread to the defence and only players who played well were De Gea & Nani. Last 2 games have shown how much we rely on Rooney & are missing a decent central midfielder.
When I say almost paid I meant by losing! We paid but not the ultimate price! And I’d say we’d be doing well 2 get a full pizza for Carrick. One slice with no more than 3 toppings would be generous!
Micky E-W: Carrick was our best player tonight in my opinion? Why start with 1 up front at home? Got what we asked for…
Chow W-M: We’re still in need of that real world class quality in midfield. Who? Not for me to say but for SAF and his staff to answer. We can’t look at one game either, I’ve been quite alarmed by the fact that the opposing sides have had upwards of 15-20 attempts at our goal in the last few games.
Pluses? Welbeck and to a lesser extent Ando had good games.
Wayne N: We’ll still win group at a canter.
Ferguson should hold his head in shame.This Utd midfield is the worst I have seen in many years.Fergies record in Europe is a down right digrace for a club the size of Utd.Since Keane left the midfield has bben in a downward spiral,everone can see this except Ferguson and he is wrong,totally wrong.
Wow. Get a brain you bitter!
3cl finals in 4 years makes your opinions nonsense.
i was very ok with jones, young, welbeck & ando perfomance. but pliz sir. Dr. furgie ferdinand & carrick & berbatov are a disgrace to many reds. hope the midfield crisis will be solved soon by cleverly
Have to agree with Stevo. We have been shown up in midfield yet again this season. We all thought that Fergie would put that right but yet again we are left with a poor unchanged midfield for the last few seasons.
I have also said many times that playing only one up front is not the way forward and have been proved right many many times when our defence has been put under untold pressure because the player on his own is unable to hold the ball up in attack. The opposition bypasses our midfield or in the case of Stoke bullies us and we can’t cope . Our midfield needs someone who is world class and can run a game. Play 2 upfront and scare the living daylights out of the opposition.
We also need fullbacks too. Valencia is a winger not a full back
If we are to win the CL this season then our only hope at present is that Barca and Real etal are knocked out before the semmis or the final
CARRICK OUT. We cannot carry passengers any longer and the bloke neither attacks nor defends. A complete and utter nothing player who serves up nothing but Mild Mediocrity. Cue the usual “Every team needs a water carrier” brigade to come out in force and shout me down. But i ask them this, what does he bring to this team? Answers on a postcard.
Tbh the subject of our midfield has been evident from years ago and its getting more apparent now that Scholes has gone!, i can understand the train of thought that a creative midfielder is needed and it would be great if we did get a sneijder-esque player but in all fairness Utd have never had one!, Scholes became a dictator-of-play the older he got but prior to that he was a goalscoring midfielder.
Most of Utds pattern of play has normally been abt the wingers and a creative forward (Cantona, Sheringham,Yorke, and now Rooney or Berbatov(i know!!), so for me what Utd are desperately in need of a player that can a) Dictate, b) Impose himself, c) Take on the challenge!, and d) act as the FOCAL point to our team and the spine of it and for that man is Schweinsteiger!!!!, failing that and this would be shrewd as he would not be cup tied would be De Rossi!!!
carrick is not good enough to be a squad player at the moment his style of play is too slow ..but lets not get carryed away even though we have drawn the last three matches its a long season and when cleverly comes back our passing will sharpen up and we,ll be cutin through teams again.need to win well at the weekend have a feelin city are gonna fall apart afther the tevez thing last night can i just add one more thing ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha fuckin caveman
i was confused for almost 3years what carrick is doing in our team, but came with the conclution that he does offield service for ferguson
if you dont agree then explaine to me?
Carrick must be a go-fa, for Fergie!…
Appreciated, him at first but that was because Ronaldo n Tevez n Rooney made it easy for him!, now 2 of the 3 have gone his style is being shown up, and he has NEVER taken a game by the scruff of the neck which again leads me to say GET A MIDFIELDER THAT CAN!!!!
Defence was very poor,there was no organisation what so ever. The time VDS went 12+ games without conceding a goal, he didnt need to make a save most of the time,the defence was that good. But based on all the games so far let alone making saves opposing strikers are getting a lot of opportunities to score…Welbeck was great and i hope he continues to be in the starting lineup…Evra no longer closes down on the wingers,just lets them cross,i think its to give other players like fabio and fryers a shot at left back just so he can be in his toes. Berba is shite,i dont remember a shot on goal against stoke. Cant wait for Vida to comeback to the team..Rio looks slow,,Carrick is too conservative…You need a goal in the last 20 minutes, berba or owen…i would all i ve got for owen to get me a goal.