Premiership
MANCHESTER UNITED 2 (Rooney 9, Carrick 82)
PORTSMOUTH 0
The title of this post is the verdict of Matt Lawton in the Daily Mail. He congratulated MU for their work rate but The Sun chooses to focus on Fergie's unhappiness that his team didn't finish Portsmouth off before Michael Carrick's 82nd minute winner. They certainly had the chances with Giggs missing two golden opportunities:
"Fergie said: “We were too casual so I’m not taking anything for granted. We have got to put our foot down. There is no leeway unless you can keep performing properly. This could have been embarrassing as we could have thrown the game away when we should have been five or six up. In the first half the football was some of the best you’ll see all season. But when you miss chances at 1-0 up you encourage your opponents.”"
Kevin McCarra, The Guardian, agrees:
"Opportunities for a second goal were squandered and Portsmouth did not get the full attention of the hosts until they hinted at levelling the score. With 66 minutes gone, Patrice Evra misjudged the flight of the ball and the substitute Jermaine Pennant got behind him before picking out Peter Crouch with a pass that the striker miscued."
As well as another clean sheet one big plus to emerge from last night was Anderson's performance. Shaun Custis agrees in The Sun:
"It has taken Anderson nearly two years to adapt to the English game since a £20million move from Porto. But he is getting there and the fans are warming to him. He was an important figure against his former club in the Champions League quarter-final success and here he was United’s best player. When he was subbed the Old Trafford crowd, which had been so quiet all night, rose to applaud his contribution."
The Mail's Matt Lawton notes that Berbatov's name was greeted with boos from United supporters when it was announced. He was an unused substitute in last night's game. The Old Trafford crowd - preparing to pay £1 more a game from next season - would almost certainly vote for Tevez if they had to choose between keeping the Argentinian or the Bulgarian. The Mirror has more on Tevez's radio interview in which he revealed that he is likely to leave United (reluctantly) in the summer.
Three points clear and a game in hand means we are now well placed for a third successive title but the race to the finish line won't be helped by the fact that Neville and O'Shea will be missing for "weeks".
A report on last night's game wouldn't be complete without a tribute to Mr 600 himself, Paul Scholes. Martin Samuel does the job well in the Mail:
"He has been through so many matches like this it was clearly nothing special, despite the milestone. He has always been more interested in serving the team than servicing his ego and, those looking for a celebratory flamboyance in his game will have been disappointed. White boots with a red tongue were about the size of it. Even his haircut has not changed in all his years at Old Trafford. No harsh number ones or experiments. He is that wonderful contradiction: almost an anti-footballer off the field, and a pure footballer on it. Paying tribute to him beforehand, Ferguson said every club in Europe wanted Scholes, but he had not received one offer in all his time at Old Trafford. It was known throughout football that he was unobtainable."
Tim
Recent Comments