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| Photo by Woodleywonderworks on Flickr |
o There Are No Easy Champions League Games: Sure, there are some Champions League matchups that are easier than others -- would you rather play Galatasaray or Barcelona? -- but there is no such thing as an easy night in Europe these days. The teams -- yes, even the Turkish ones -- have too many international players, and the contests are too cagey to lead to many 5-nil romps, even for a team with the quality of Manchester United. Last night's game was a perfect example: for much of the game the Turks held the ball, gave as good as they got, and were unlucky not to have scored on at least two occasions. After a fast opening by the home side, the contest quickly turned into a nerve-wracking affair, with one key difference: this time the home side managed to find a way hold on. Which just goes to show....
o A Narrow Win is Still a Win: United open the Group Stage with three points this year -- they now likely need only seven more from their next five games to move into the knockout stage of the competition. With two more home games, United would now appear very likely to better last year's effort. In the end, it will not long be remembered that last night's victory was ugly in spots, that United spurned multiple scoring opportunities, and that the home side looked vulnerable on defense. Instead, the United faithful will remember a game that counted as a win -- hopefully one in a series of them in this year's Champions League -- and that the home side banked all three points. Which they got because....
o Sir Alex is Not Fooling Around: Take a gander at Wednesday's starting lineup: Robin Van Persie, Shinji Kagawa, Antonio Valencia, and Nemanja Vidic, among others, graced the pitch for the men in Red. The only "big name" players missing from a squad which might start a Champions League Final were Wayne Rooney (injured) and Rio Ferdinand (rested). Gone is the conservative, rest-the-stars approach used to such ill effect last season. Names such as Bebe, Gibbo and Pogba stood no chance of seeing the light of day this time around, and not only because most of them have moved on -- but because the Boss is not so ill-informed as to realize he vastly underestimated the competitiveness of last year's competition. And Fergie could have been forgiven for taking a chance on this particular game, especially with the Liverpool derby coming up on the weekend. But he didn't, and we knew Sir Alex was serious last night, because....
o When the Black Coat and Sweater Come Out, Things Are Starting to Get Real: Everyone knows the sun shines in Manchester about as often as it snows in Miami, but there's something special about Old Trafford when the weather turns cooler, and there's nothing like a European Night to bring it out. And when Fergie busts out the Marks & Spencer jacket with the zip-up sweater underneath it can only mean one thing: the weather's begun to turn, and real English football is on display. Save the sunny day games for the pre-season and August. This time of year we want the real thing -- raw, cold, dark and hard hitting -- with only one exception....
o United Had Better Start Practicing Their Penalties: RVP, Chicharito, and now Nani -- how many missed penalties will Sir Alex put up with? Our guess is that this will continue to be an area on which the individual players will spend some extra time on the practice pitch this week, as there's nothing to energize the opposition like missing a penalty, and the stated goal of this year's team is to step on the throat of the opposition when they've got them down. United need to be more ruthless, and a betting man would count on them to get there -- or else.
This is farlieonfootie for September 20.
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