A Parting Gift? Manchester United 1 - Bayern Munich 1: Game Recap and Player Ratings

photo by sun dazed	via PhotoRee

Defying the critics at home and abroad, Manchester United played a rope-a-dope first half before showing more of their teeth after the break in a 1-1 Champions League draw at Old Trafford Wednesday night.  Fully embracing what could be the club's last European contest for quite some time, the hosts withstood a brutal frontal assault from their German visitors in the first half, with the Munich holding nearly 80% of the possession prior to the interval.  Nevertheless, it was the home side in the form of Danny Welbeck who missed the best chance of the half to go in front prior to the halftime whistle.

 

After the break was a completely different story, with both teams taking turns attacking the others' goal, and real chances were created at both ends.  United Captain Nemanja Vidic was the first to find the net, with his unmarked header gifting his club an unexpected 1-0 lead.  As should have been expected, however, Bayern fought back to tie the contest through a finely worked play that ended with Bastian Schweinsteiger putting the ball into David De Gea's goal. 

 

Although neither side will be disappointed with the outcome, in general the Germans will be pleased to have scored their away goal, a tally which leaves United needing to score on their trip to the Allianz Arena in a little over a week's time.  The surly nature of the contest was underscored by the  high number of rough tackles, yellow cards and a final red for the Bayern goalscorer, which will mark him as ineligible for the return leg.

 

Herewith, the individual player ratings from a spirited night at Old Trafford:

 

De Gea: Pinpoint clearance and a fine save to deny Ribery before the break.  7.5

Jones: Filled in at right back and was there when he needed to be. 7.5

Ferdinand: Was right in the mix tonight.  Looked like the old days.  7.5

Vidic: Looked nervy at the outset but gradually settled. He may have been unguarded, but it was still a clutch header from a very tough position to give his side the second half lead. 8.0 

Büttner: Appeared overmatched right from the get go, but gradually settled down and played his way into the match. Should be renamed Hoofner. 7.0

Valencia: Early yellow and lucky to stay on the pitch after a bone crunching second half tackle. Moved to right back to accommodate Ashley Young with 15 minutes left. 7.0

Carrick: Decent distribution when he was able to touch the ball. Forced to stay way back for most of the night. 7.0

Fellaini: Just not good enough to play in a holding role. Gifted the ball repeatedly to the visitors and lost his man for the Bayern equalizer. 6.0

Helter Skelter

photo by p_a_h	via PhotoRee

Just a quick editorial aside to make room for the latest news before today's blog.  I think all regular readers of the blog will recognize that I'm biased (see yesterday's blog entry for an example), so take it for what you want.  


The headlines out of Manchester and London were consumed yesterday with the news of Carlos Tevez' written demand to leave Manchester City during the January transfer window.  I won't re-hash old news except to say "I told you so."  The guy is a malcontent from the word "Go," and one of those types for whom the grass is always greener somewhere else.  Call me slow, but I realized this when United gave Tevez (or his agent, the ultra-shady Kia Joorabchian) his ostensible asking price, only to be repaid with a refusal to sign and a move across town.  As far as I'm concerned, it's good riddance to Tevez, and Sir Alex has once again proved why he's among the smartest minds in world football.  See ya later, Carlos; enjoy playing for Boca Juniors, and we'll see you in 'El Superclasico' real soon.   


I spent the better part of my day going from football match to football match today; most of the games I saw happened to be in the Premier League, but not all of them.  In fact, the most special game I witnessed took place in the middle of my day, but I'll come back to that a little later.


First of all, the facts, plain and #simples, as they say: it may be cold wherever you're reading this, but in South Florida it's all sunny blue sky and 71 degrees (21.6 degrees celsius, for those of you scoring from England).  Nice and cool in the shade, but a bit hotter out in the sun.  All in all, though, not too shabby for a mid-December Saturday; kind of puts you in the Christmas mood....


Unlike many of you, we get our games in the morning and early afternoon over here in the eastern part of the US.  So it's often wake up for breakfast, turn on the tv, and start watching to begin the weekend.  Because there was no noon-time GMT kickoff today, I got to sleep in, and enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and quick read of the papers before the action got rolling.


To begin the day I managed to catch about a quarter of Bayern Munich's game against St. Pauli (somwhat confusingly, I thought St. Pauli was a beer, and not a football club based in Hamburg; I guess you really do learn something new each day).  I managed to catch just enough of the game to whet my appetite for EPL football, but when I saw Bastian Schweinsteiger's fine layoff lead to an early goal for the men from Munich, it made it all that much more bitter when I read the news later in the day that Schweini had signed a five year extension to stay at Bayern.  I was genuinely hoping he'd end up in Manchester by summer's end.