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Old Trafford stripped of Man Utd's swagger
By Tim Rich
Last Updated: 1:17am BST 03/10/2007
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It is the ambition of any manager to create a team who play like Arsenal, although this season Manchester United resemble the old machine run by George Graham, the one that needed only a single goal to take three points.
In pics: Champions League action
Manchester United homepage | Football fans' forum
Henry Winter: Wayne Rooney's instinct gives Man Utd edge It is probably just as well the Glazer family do not put the same emphasis on excitement as Roman Abramovich, a man who could part company with the most successful manager in Chelsea's history after rumours his victories were insufficiently entertaining. Sir Alex Ferguson has been accused of many things, but never of sending out teams that were grimly efficient.
Cause for concern: Sir Alex Ferguson's side need to gelWhen the Glazers used so much of other people's money to buy United it would have been on the understanding that at Old Trafford entertainment came as standard. But this season the ground has been something seldom seen under Ferguson, a stadium stripped of its old imperial swagger, a ground that by the start of October has celebrated six goals.
"It is a disease; we are still looking for a vaccine for it," smiled Ferguson when reminded that this was the sixth 1-0 victory Manchester United have chiselled out in eight games. But since each goal at Old Trafford has produced two points, it is a disease that is not harmful, let alone fatal.
And yet it irritates. At half-time, Ferguson complained his team had been "too safe; in football you have to take a risk". This is a philosophy the Italian game has never accepted but then Italian football never forced season-ticket holders to buy tickets for cup games, as United do.
Had the first taste of compulsory football been last April's 7-1 destruction of Roma or even the desperate comeback to overcome AC Milan 3-2 in the first leg of the European Cup semi-final that followed, there might have been fewer complaints.
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As it was your £26 bought you a 2-0 Carling Cup defeat by Coventry that left Ferguson "flabbergasted" and provided further evidence the latest batch of his "fledglings" are unlikely to fly far. And then there was this; an illustration that however great the quality on display, you cannot repeat great matches to order.
Thus far United have been outstanding in only one area – the central defensive partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic that could claim to be the best in the Champions League.
And yet the lack of cohesion has not been reflected in results, mainly because there has always been enough individual talent to ride to the rescue. Here it was Wayne Rooney's first strike of a fitful season. At Birmingham, it was Cristiano Ronaldo's eye for goal. At Goodison Park it was Vidic's power and speed at a set piece.
As a long-term strategy, it cannot last. Sooner or later, this latest remodelled United must gel but then much the same was said of Chelsea when they tried to shoehorn Michael Ballack and Andrei Shevchenko into one of the most ruthlessly-successful winning machines English football has seen. And in Jose Mourinho's final campaign, he increasingly relied on one individual, Didier Drogba, to salvage his season.
Part of the Americanisation of Old Trafford's 'matchday experience' involves playing the theme tune to Rocky before kick-off. In the original movie, as Sylvester Stallone pounds Apollo Creed's ribs, the champion screams he does not want a rematch.
This is a sound principle in sport. It is probably just as well Real Madrid never organised a rematch with Eintracht Frankfurt after the giddying 1960 European Cup final in Glasgow that had a young Ferguson among the audience. Roma's last visit to Manchester had been a bare-knuckle fight to the finish. With both teams likely to qualify for the knockout stages, this was Rocky Lite, a punch-up with headguards.
By Tim Rich
Last Updated: 1:17am BST 03/10/2007
Have your say Read commentsIt is the ambition of any manager to create a team who play like Arsenal, although this season Manchester United resemble the old machine run by George Graham, the one that needed only a single goal to take three points.
In pics: Champions League action
Manchester United homepage | Football fans' forum
Henry Winter: Wayne Rooney's instinct gives Man Utd edge It is probably just as well the Glazer family do not put the same emphasis on excitement as Roman Abramovich, a man who could part company with the most successful manager in Chelsea's history after rumours his victories were insufficiently entertaining. Sir Alex Ferguson has been accused of many things, but never of sending out teams that were grimly efficient.
Cause for concern: Sir Alex Ferguson's side need to gelWhen the Glazers used so much of other people's money to buy United it would have been on the understanding that at Old Trafford entertainment came as standard. But this season the ground has been something seldom seen under Ferguson, a stadium stripped of its old imperial swagger, a ground that by the start of October has celebrated six goals."It is a disease; we are still looking for a vaccine for it," smiled Ferguson when reminded that this was the sixth 1-0 victory Manchester United have chiselled out in eight games. But since each goal at Old Trafford has produced two points, it is a disease that is not harmful, let alone fatal.
And yet it irritates. At half-time, Ferguson complained his team had been "too safe; in football you have to take a risk". This is a philosophy the Italian game has never accepted but then Italian football never forced season-ticket holders to buy tickets for cup games, as United do.
Had the first taste of compulsory football been last April's 7-1 destruction of Roma or even the desperate comeback to overcome AC Milan 3-2 in the first leg of the European Cup semi-final that followed, there might have been fewer complaints.
advertisement
As it was your £26 bought you a 2-0 Carling Cup defeat by Coventry that left Ferguson "flabbergasted" and provided further evidence the latest batch of his "fledglings" are unlikely to fly far. And then there was this; an illustration that however great the quality on display, you cannot repeat great matches to order.
Thus far United have been outstanding in only one area – the central defensive partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic that could claim to be the best in the Champions League.
And yet the lack of cohesion has not been reflected in results, mainly because there has always been enough individual talent to ride to the rescue. Here it was Wayne Rooney's first strike of a fitful season. At Birmingham, it was Cristiano Ronaldo's eye for goal. At Goodison Park it was Vidic's power and speed at a set piece.
As a long-term strategy, it cannot last. Sooner or later, this latest remodelled United must gel but then much the same was said of Chelsea when they tried to shoehorn Michael Ballack and Andrei Shevchenko into one of the most ruthlessly-successful winning machines English football has seen. And in Jose Mourinho's final campaign, he increasingly relied on one individual, Didier Drogba, to salvage his season.
Part of the Americanisation of Old Trafford's 'matchday experience' involves playing the theme tune to Rocky before kick-off. In the original movie, as Sylvester Stallone pounds Apollo Creed's ribs, the champion screams he does not want a rematch.
This is a sound principle in sport. It is probably just as well Real Madrid never organised a rematch with Eintracht Frankfurt after the giddying 1960 European Cup final in Glasgow that had a young Ferguson among the audience. Roma's last visit to Manchester had been a bare-knuckle fight to the finish. With both teams likely to qualify for the knockout stages, this was Rocky Lite, a punch-up with headguards.
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