There’ll be dancing on the streets of Stockport tonight, to paraphrase the late, great, Bill McLaren. It was Manchester City’s day, with Roberto Mancini’s outfit leaving Wembley triumphant after Yaya Touré’s 52nd minute goal. In truth Sir Alex Ferguson’s players barely arrived, lacking not only energy and drive, but seemingly desire too. Perhaps his team’s hearts and minds were left somewhere on the M1, which so many supporters had struggled to navigate on the trip down.
This defeat was hugely disappointing, of course, but nor the ‘Manchester United way’ either; limp, lethargic, and worst of all, unambitious. That was the big picture but the game was also lost in the minutiae – Dimitar Berbatov’s criminally poor finishing, Michael Carrick’s sloppy defending, Park Ji-Sung’s inability to retain possession. None a virgin observation.
If the result is sickening for United supporters, then the red card and three match ban for midfielder Paul Scholes will also hurt. The flame-haired 36-year-old started the match as the only Mancunian on the pitch; he ended it in disgrace, rightly dismissed for a thigh-high second-half tackle on Pablo Zabaletta. That the Argentinian also raised his studs is moot of course. Retirement may now not be far away.
The victory increases City’s chances of lifting a first trophy since 1976, although the club’s capacity for comedy never fails to surprise. The winners of Sunday’s Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City clash awaits City in the final. Either will certainly give Mancini’s side a better game than United managed on Saturday.
Meanwhile United can be thankful only for the reduction in fixture congestion that defeat ensures, with United’s match against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park now confirmed for Saturday 14 May. It is no consolation for the thousands who made the trip south and with no further matches against City this season, Reds must now suffer months of Blue-baiting.
“The first 15 minutes after half-time cost us the game,” Ferguson admitted.
“Slack moments. Edwin (van der Sar) had a bad kick out and Michael Carrick couldn’t hold it and it was a goal. From then on, they were defending apart from a couple of counter-attacks. It’s disappointing as we should have been ahead in the first half as we were the better team.
“The chances that Dimitar missed – there was a great save by the goalkeeper but the second chance, from under the bar, if he’d have scored there, I had a feeling whoever scored first would win the match.”
Ferguson opted for the Bulgarian as United’s lone striker, a role that has so rarely brought the best out of player or team in the 30-year-old’s three seasons at Old Trafford. Retaining Park to bolster midfield, Ferguson dropped livewire striker Javier Hernández. If the plan was the remain competitive in midfield it failed, with City passing through or around United’s engine room with ease.
United started brightly though and fashioned the game’s opening chances. Twice Berbatov wasted openings, first racing clear only to see his shot saved by City’s Joe Hart, and then firing over from inches under the bar. It is a miss that will haunt the £30 million Bulgarian.
City though found a foothold in the game by half-time, with Gareth Barry firing into the side netting and then Mario Balotelli forcing Edwin van der Sar to tip over from long-range. The goal, minutes into the second half, was born both of individual errors and Touré’s power and drive. First van der Sar’s poor kick was collected by Carrick, and then the Geordie gifted Touré possession. The Ivorian needed no second invitation to fire past United’s legendary Dutchman.
Ferguson reacted by finally bringing Hernández into the fold, seemingly too little and far too late. The Mexican had little to do with Nani’s long-range free kick that smashed onto Hart’s bar and aside from the Portuguese’s strike there was little response by United; Ferguson’s side either unable or unwilling to change the pattern of the match.
Scholes’ red card on 73 minutes, while not fundamentally altering the match, did little for the Reds’ attacking ambitions. Heads dropped and United barely created a chance in the finally flurries.
“We’ve seen over his career Paul has had unbelievable moments – he’s one of the greatest players this club has ever had,” added Ferguson. “But he has his red-mist moments – he caught the boy on the thigh.”
There could be little in the way of argument with Mike Dean’s dismissal, even if the Wirral-based official has been the centre of repeated controversy in United’s matches.
In truth United’s performance was well below par, with early chances missed and defensive errors replete. Perhaps fatigue got the better of United, or the side missed Wayne Rooney more than expected, but with a trip to Newcastle United on Tuesday night, Ferguson’s players have no time to dwell on the most disappointing result of the season to date.
“If one of those goes in, maybe it’s a different game and they would have to chase us,” van der Sar told MUTV.
“In the second half, when they scored, we went to 10 men, one man down, and it was hard to chase and try to get the equaliser. We had some half-chances or possibilities to get the ball into the box but nothing really materialised. We were hoping for that famous injury-time goal again but I think our luck ran out a little bit.
“It’s not the way we normally defend so we have to do something to take the blame – all the players who have been on the pitch. Nobody really performed to their standard, I think.
“We had a go in the last 20 minutes but just maybe we were a bit tired also in the end. We have played quite a big amount of games in the last three or four weeks. We have got two days to recover from this game then, on Tuesday, it’s an important game.”
In that veteran van der Sar is entirely correct, with perhaps only defenders Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand performing to an acceptable level. Ferguson now faces the very real challenge of turning around his team’s morale and ensuring that the Premier League does not slip away as the cup has now done.
After the whistle Ferdinand and substitute Anderson ended up in a near brawl with Ballotelli; the Italian running towards United’s supporters to kiss his badge. If only United’s team had shown the same level of fight during the game.
Match Facts
United – 451 – van der Sar; O’Shea (Fabio Da Silva x84), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Valencia (Hernandez 65), Carrick, Scholes, Park, Nani; Berbatov (Anderson 74)
City – 433 – Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov; Y Toure, De Jong, Barry; Johnson (Wright-Phillips 79), Balotelli, Silva (Vieira 86)
Attendance – 86,549
Man of the Match – Vidic
Possession: City 44% – 56% United
Attempts: 10 – 12
On Target: 2 – 6
Corners: 7 – 6
Fouls: 14 – 9
Yes United were rubbish, particularly for 20 minutes or so after half-time but I thought City were pretty abject too. Makes it even worse, I suppose. We were doing well when we really went at them for a ten minute spell in the first half (when Berbatov missed those two chances) but for some reason abandoned that approach and sat back. What annoyed me about Berbatov’s misses wasn’t so much that he missed them but that from that point on he seemed to lose his touch altogether and was totally ineffectual.
Why did many united fans choose to shower city fans with cans of beer as we walked up wembley way. I personally saw one young city fan hit. Real class
Berbatov didn’t miss two chances. He missed one, the other was saved in slightly fortuitous fashion by the outstanding Joe Hart.
Taggart got this wrong – Hernandez is on fire. Agree with playing Park and Nani though – they both got stuck in in midfield when Carrick went missing. Scholes legs can’t do it anymore either. Park though remains too lightweight. I’m a big fan but his effort isn’t enough when he gets muscled out constantly.
Carrick’s been loads better of late but what now? Surely any confidence is erased?
How we missed Darren Fletcher!!
Oh and Rio surely had fuck all kip, so why not start Smalling?
Why the fuck did piss head leave berbs up there on his own for so long when it clearly was’nt working? Then takes him off to leave Hernandez on his own.
Teds awards.
Bit hit…….None.
Dogshit…….Carrick, Nani, Park, Scholes, Ferdinand.
cheer up lads, this was’nt as bad a result as one might think but a bad one for the Glazers. They will have realised some BIG money needs to spent, doing it is of course another matter. The worlds richest club beat the worlds most indebted club, some bitter irony in this which wont be lost on a lot of people
Berbatov just cannot play on his own, yet Fergie put him up front alone again. Bad move. I said this way back when Rooney was injured that I would play Nani up front as one of the strikers and partner Nani up front with Hernandez when Rooney is not in the team. Now that Valencia is back on the right side, Nani can play more as a striker because Berbatov just looks all wrong up front on his own.
the talk is sir ryan giggs was left out of he squad because he is the one caught banging that welsh tart wth the huge ta-tas, anyone else heard this?
We just had too many players who didn’t turn up and others just looked knackered. Carrick strolled about playing well for the first 25 mins. Then Yaya Toure took him to the cleaners. And once Carrick gave away that goal his confidence was gone. It was the same with Berbatov. Missed that sitter and disappeared up his own arse.
But, hand on heart, the thing that is worrying me the most is Evra. He has been really bad by his own standards this year. The hangover from the world cup is still there. His tackling, distribution and influence have all gone down a level. Maybe its time to give the twins a go on both sides.
I think Evra just needs a rest, he’s played more than than anyone else in the team and maybe it’s showing.
What hurts more than anything else is the fact City weren’t actually any better than United across the 90 minutes. It was a tense game, not especially filled with quality, and Yaya’s goal was well taken.
I think if Berbatov finishes either of those chances at the beginning of the game it is game over, and I’m gutted because of that.
Fuming with the referee – I can understand why he gave Scholes a straight red, though I don’t necessarily agree with it. What I was sick of was De Jong, Barry et al, sliding in late repeatedly on our players and not getting booked for it until the second half. Ludicrous.
Ando had a great little cameo. He needs to play in the next game.
Class?
What the fuck would you know about class?
What?
Its just such a pity it was City. Against almost any other team SAF would have picked a second eleven to concentrate on what really matters. There is no possible excuse for Scholes; the tackle was disgraceful. I hope one lesson sinks in, that Berba cannot play as a lone striker. The only bright sign was that Ando looked keen; let’s see if he can turn it on for the rest of the season. We need a fit & hungry Darren Fletcher for the run in.
Looking back at the last 3 fixtures against City, there is one thing I fail to understand: every single time they started with a defensive formation, clearly looking not to conceive. They played the same shit tactic AT HOME, ffs, in their own backyard. And what does Fergie go and do? He puts out a similar formation!!!Whatever happened to “the United Way” of winning a game by “attack-attack-attack”? And I know we lack the quality players of old, but I think the game would’ve been put to bed in the first half if Ando was started instead of Scholes, and Chicharito up front with the Berb. I don’t expect us to really win anything other than the League, but at least Saturday’s defeat would’ve been a little “sweeter” if United had lost fighting not blabarring about on the pitch!
cabronyc – The United way went out the window at least five years ago
i fucking love it when they arent looking to conceive
Itel – haha. Yep the less Bitters on the planet, the better.
My spell check is off. A good statement nonetheless
Why did so many City fans sing Munich songs up Wembley way?
Berbatov will never be a big game player for us I think (Liverpool excepted). He has played well for us in the last few weeks against Bolton and Fulham and got important goals but he lacks the character to play in these big games on the big occasions. He’s a good squad player to have (a bit expensive one at that).
Carrick, though, cannot be excused. Bayern Munich, City, and lots more. He doesn’t even have the decency to come out and say sorry. I still remember Beckham apologizing to fans after a 0-1 loss to Bolton at Old Trafford in 02-03 even though it wasn’t his fault.
Oh, by the way, I couldn’t find a way to translate from English to Manchester Thug on Google Translate. This will have to do. Sorry for the inconvenience.
oh my god…you have such a big fuck off chip on your shoulder dont you
however you are right re berbatov and carrick
Mate… what the fuck is your problem?
You make an intelligent post… and follow it up with a completely unnecessary crack… that serves no real purpose, except to invite ridicule… fine…
… you’re a cunt!
Do you feel better now?
Calm down. I’ve made my point.
I’ll be normal now. Bene?
Fucking hell, Mario Balotelli’s joined United Rant
balotelli can go suck cap’ns cock
After you
im sure ud be first in that v short queue u sheep shagging cock sucking ginger fingered cunt