Wednesday, 10th March 2010 – KO: 19:45

It has been over two weeks since we played at Old Trafford and what a game to come back on – it doesn’t get much better than this.

I have watched a replay of the first match a couple of times now and I must say, we can consider ourselves quite fortunate to be taking a lead into this game. With a bit more luck and a bit more composure in front of goal, Milan could have blown us away by half-time.

However, we rode our luck before coming back very strongly in the second half. When we went 3-1 up, it looked very much like this tie was as good as over but Seedorf’s clever little backheel in the closing stages gave Milan some chance that they can overturn the deficit.

It is going to be very interesting to see how Milan start in this one. They started extremely brightly in the first leg and I think we were a bit surprised by that. They do need to win here tonight and probably need to score at least three goals in the process (although a 2-0 win would also take them through) and so they won’t be able to mess around too much, they will need to attack.

If the first leg showed one thing it is that attack is their strength however so I would not say that they face mission impossible in terms of getting the goals they require. The problem they face is getting those goals whilst keeping us out at the same time. I simply cannot see that happening and sooner or later we are going to score a goal and if we get one, we could get two as the Milan heads start to drop.

I think Valencia is going to be our key player here tonight. He made a big difference when he came on in the first leg and the little triangle between Berby, Valencia and Rooney has brought several goals recently (I do hope that Berby will play alongside Rooney here tonight).

At the back, we have Rio and Vidic and whilst I am not filled with confidence that they can keep Milan out for 90 minutes, if they can keep them out for 60 minutes, it would probably be enough for Milan to start getting desperate and frustrated, opening gaps for us to exploit in the process.

Evra is a cert for the left and it only remains to be seen whether Rafael is chosen on the right again. He was given a bit of a torrid time in the first leg by Ronaldinho and I do wonder if young Rafael was a little star-struck. Ronaldinho must have been a hero for the young Da Silva’s when they were growing up in Brazil. To find himself actually playing against him must have been a bit surreal for the lad.

Personally, with Valencia on the right as opposed to Nani then I think the right side defence is better covered so I see no reason why Rafael shouldn’t be chosen again here tonight.

The midfield is going to be interesting. Fergie might go for the five man midfield but with Carrick suspended, Scholes playing the whole match on Saturday and Giggs still injured (as well as Anderson), options are somewhat limited.

I can see a good old 4-4-2 with Valencia, Fletcher, Scholes and Park with Fergie looking to bring Scholes off after 60 minutes or so to be replaced by Gibson.

Berby and Rooney up front.

Fergie was bullish after the first leg and insisted that we can make all the goal permutations and their implications irrelevant by just winning this game but it remains to be seen if the team can match Fergie’s warcry on the pitch. Personally, I think we can. Some of our best performances and results of the season have come in the games where nerves and pressure were supposed to get the better of us.

However, I am always wary of backing a team that doesn’t actually need to win so I am more tempted to go for a more neutral market in this one.

I think a lot depends on the first ten minutes of this game. We do have a habit of conceding early goals in Europe but we could also come out all guns blazing and score one of our own early on. If either team scores early then anything could happen here tonight as the whole dynamic of the tie would change.

If neither team scores early then I can see a low-scoring affair. It is hard to imagine Milan keeping us out for 90 minutes but we have to remember that we don’t actually need to score at all.

What you often find in these two legged ties is that both games rarely follow the same pattern. Everyone is expecting another goal fest here tonight but neither team really wants to get into that kind of game. Milan are looking for 2-0, we are looking for 1-0.

For this reason, I am going to go for the Under bet here because I think it offers some value.

The bet is 2 points Under 2.5 Goals @ 2.00 with Bet365.

Review to follow…

Tuesday, 16th February 2010 – KO: 19:45

I don’t know about you but once we get to the knockout stage of the Champions League, it always hits home for me that we are now into the crucial stage of the season. This is where the mistakes get costly. This is where every inch has to be earned as we hopefully move towards some silverware.

Standing in our way of progress in the Champions League is an old and familiar foe – AC Milan.

When we last met them in the 2006/07 season, I really fancied our chances (especially when we won the first leg 3-2 at Old Trafford) but they completely blew us away in the return leg 3-0.

However, there was one man playing for AC Milan that evening who won’t be facing us this time – Kaka. He was incredible in that game.

This time round, there is a player who will be hoping to bang in the goals that we have been linked with on and off for years – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. He scored a couple in their last game against Udinese so has clearly put himself in contention for a starting place for this one. Definitely one to be wary of. But Pato is also a big danger and even Ronaldinho has started to rediscover a bit of the old magic and is their other big danger.

The rest of the players, we all know about because most of them haven’t changed for the last ten years.

There is one, however, that is bound to attract more camera action than any other (even if he is on the bench for 70 minutes) and that is David Beckham.

Beckham was a very good player for United but he left at the right time because, let’s face it, he wouldn’t have had much of a look in once Ronaldo matured as a player. These days he is very much the same player that he always was although he can no longer do it for 90 minutes.

However, he still has magic in that right foot that can cause all kinds of trouble for a disorganised defence.

Anyway, enough of AC Milan. This is the Manchester United show and where the Italians were once the most feared of all opponents, they have been pushed down the ranks in recent years to the point where the very best that Italy has to offer (Inter Milan) were quite soundly beaten by us in last year’s competition.

I have no doubts whatsoever that we will have too much for AC Milan over the two legs of this tie.

The big question is: how will we fare in this away leg?

The general consensus in the Champions League is that the first leg result doesn’t matter too much so long as the away team scores at least one goal and the home team doesn’t win by three or more.

I think it is fair to say that AC Milan won’t be winning this one by three again and I also think it is fair to say that we have hit such a rich vein of scoring form that it is hard to believe that we will leave the San Siro without a goal next to our name.

I might appear to be dismissing AC Milan lightly but I’m not. Such is the experience they have, they certainly know their way around a football pitch but whilst they remain a pretty potent attacking force at their home ground, the defence is not what it once was and this could well be their undoing.

Not many teams go to the San Siro and come away with a win but it is not unusual anymore for a team to go there and come away with a goal or two.

I have no doubt that AC Milan will raise their game for this one and a 1-1 draw looks the likeliest result and that would suit us just fine but I do think we can go there and be a little more ambitious than that and actually come away with the win.

That we will score is almost beyond doubt in my opinion. The question is how will our defence fare against the attacking threat of AC Milan? If we can cope then we can win and that is what I am going to go for.

The bet is 2 points Manchester United to Win @ 2.7 with Paddy Power.

As the old cliche goes, this was very much a game of two halves. We were absolutely woeful for much of the first half and AC Milan could have found themselves 3-0 up by the time Paul Scholes scored his lucky equaliser.

Ronaldinho was immense in the first half tonight and caused all kinds of problems in the attacking third (you wouldn’t know a World Cup is coming up, would you?)

What was disappointing though was our defence in the first half. We just didn’t seem to be at the races. Evra attempted some kind of weird overhead kick clearance when Evans was standing right behind him and the effort only found Ronaldinho who smashed the ball in via a wicked deflection.

The other strange thing was our formation. Fergie went with some kind of 4-5-1 with Rooney up front and seemingly Park on the left with Nani on the right except Park seemed to be playing all over the place which left Evra covering the entire left side.

Fergie seems to have done just about everything to blank David Beckham out of existence in the days leading up to this match but I thought leaving the right hand side more or less completely unprotected was stretching the point a little too far especially when Leonardo played a bit of an ace by bringing Beckham into a more central position.

Anyway, 1-0 down after just three minutes and Milan denied a few more times after that, things didn’t look good for United until Scholes took a swing at a cross and completely missed it only for it to hit his standing foot and trickle in at around 3mph for 1-1 at half time.

At this point, I felt confident. We could hardly play any worse in the second half and the hopes were that Milan would not be able to match us for stamina as the game went on.

This proved to be the case. We were far better in the second half and Milan definitely slowed down and by the time Rooney scored his second and our third, the Milan defence were virtually statues.

At this point, I thought we could go on and score a fourth or even a fifth but we didn’t really go for the jugular and the momentum was lost.

We have had some great players at Manchester United but one of the greatest players during the last fifteen years has been a guy called Clarence Seedorf.

He came on as a sub with around 20 minutes to go and hardly got a touch to be fair but then, as the clock was ticking away for a decisive win for United, he popped up in the box and scored a cute goal for Milan’s second.

At 3-1, this tie was done and dusted. At 3-2, I still think it will take something more than Milan possess to overturn it but the gap is close enough for them to believe that they have it in them.

All things considered, I think we deserved our win here tonight. We played poorly in the first half and the referee was a complete homer. Many decisions went against us and in the end Carrick was sent off with around 4 seconds left on the clock (FFS, use some common sense ref!) which just about put a lid on a poor night for the officials.

AC Milan gave a good account of themselves and will perhaps be kicking themselves for not capitalising on their early chances.

3-2 as opposed to 3-1 makes the second leg that bit more interesting but I can’t see us making the mistakes we made tonight twice and at home, we really should be looking to inflict the kind of embarrassment that AC Milan inflicted upon us a few years ago.

Tuesday, 8th December 2009 – KO: 19:45

This Champions League campaign started like a dream for Manchester United – three wins from our opening three matches put us on the verge of qualification and all we needed was a point from our remaining three matches to seal our place.

3-1 down against CSKA Moscow with minutes left on the clock and it started to look a little less comfortable. Those two goals we managed to score to salvage that point that night now look absolutely priceless as we then lost quite sensationally to Besiktas at Old Trafford.

Our place in the next round is assured but we have limped over the line. Quite literally.

For this game against Wolfsburg, we are without most of our regular players (Van Der Sar, Neville, Brown, Evans, O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Rooney, Berbatov, Fabio, Rafael and Macheda off the top of my head).

Obviously, the main problem is our defence and it could be that we go with Park, Fletcher, Carrick and Evra.

The midfield is likely to be Valencia, Scholes, Gibson, Anderson and Obertan with Owen playing upfront on his own.

Any further injuries during this game and we really will be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

As for Wolfsburg, well, after a couple of games, I felt certain that we would win the group and Wolfsburg would take the second slot but they themselves have had a tough time after such a promising start and now it might mean that they need to win here tonight to ensure their progress (much depends on the result of the other Group match between CSKA and Besiktas).

Despite all the injures, we still have eleven excellent players on the field tonight and the big question is how the defence will cope with the attacking threat of Dzeko, Grafite and Martins.

Personally, I can’t see us keeping them out at their place for 90 minutes and I would not be surprised if Wolfsburg scored more than once.

So, the next question is how many can we score?

Gibson has scored three cracking goals in the last couple of games but can he be expected to do it again?

If ever Anderson needed to find his shooting boots, it is tonight but I would not hold my breath on that one.

Paul Scholes rolled back the years with a stunner against West Ham on Saturday and another like that would be great.

Obertan gets himself into good positions but has so far shown a bit of a lack of composure in front of goal. He needs to believe in himself tonight and he could grab one for us.

The main attacking threat, I think comes from a combination of Valencia and Owen.

Valencia himself, despite hardly being a goal-machine at Wigan, has been knocking them in regularly since his arrival and another from him tonight would not be a surprise but I think his supply to Owen could be the key.

Owen will make the runs, will take up the positions and Valencia’s accurate, low crosses into him will provide him with the ammunition.

All in all, I do think that this is going to be an exciting match. Just as we did against West Ham, Manchester United will take the stance that the best form of defence is attack and it could be like the old days when we didn’t care if the opposition scored two because we would score three.

Wolfsburg will surely go for the jugular. They need a win to make absolutely sure of qualification. I don’t know how much truth there is to the rumours but if Dzeko is indeed a target of Fergie’s then tonight he has the chance to impress his future boss.

If this one ends a low scoring affair, I will be very surprised.

The bet is 4 points Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.87 with Bet365.

United played a very strange formation here with Carrick, Fletcher and Evra making some kind of three man defence with Nani and Park playing almost as full backs.

Anderson, Scholes and Gibson made up the midfield with Welbeck and Owen dropping in and playing forward at the same time.

Wolfsburg seemed strangely subdued for much of the game but still got the better of the makeshift defence on a couple of occasions with free headers that they couldn’t take advantage of.

As the first half trickled away with only a disallowed Welbeck goal the only thing of note from Manchester United, Owen popped up to score with his head.

The cross was delivered by Nani and it summed up Nani as a whole really. For forty odd minutes, he did very little and then put in a beautiful cross for the goal.

I think Owen’s goal was our first shot on target in the whole of the first half.

Wolfsburg came out with more purpose in the second half because they had no alternative but to push forward and within ten minutes, Dzeko headed them level.

For a spell after that, United were under the cosh a bit and packed the defence with eight or nine men at times and Wolfsburg could not find another way through.

After around 75 minutes, Fergie made a couple of straight swaps with Welbeck and Nani going off for Obertan and Valencia whichwere the two I thought Fergie would start with here.

Whilst Valencia didn’t really get into things, Obertan didn’t take long at all to get into his stride and within eight minutes of coming on produced a dazzling bit of skill which tied three Wolfsburg defenders in knots before firing a low ball across the box for Owen to tap in for his second.

Owen’s hat-trick came right at the end as the result of a classic United counter attack after Wolfsburg had come within a whisker of equalising for the second time.

Owen picked up the ball and ran a fair distance before chipping cooly over the keeper.

So United, despite missing almost a full team of players won 3-1, topped the group and can now look forward to the draw for the next stage.

Wednesday, 25th November 2009 – KO: 19:45

With qualification already assured but top spot still to be confirmed, this is not quite a dead rubber of a game but it’s not too far off.

Our unbeaten home run in the Champions League now stretches back to something like 23 games and so continuing that will be the order of the day.

The tricky part here is figuring out just who will play and there are bound to be several changes as Fergie gives some of the younger players a taste of Champions League action at Old Trafford.

I think Anderson is due a start and the talk is that Gibson will also be given a start. Both fine players but this will be a massive test for them if Fergie decides to go with that duo in central midfield.

Nani is another who has missed out recently and could be recalled for this one but a midfield of Nani, Gibson, Anderson and Obertan seems to be lacking something to me but I must admit, I wouldn’t mind seeing it in action!

I’m going to go a bit crazy here and put forward the following:-

Foster, Neville, Brown, Vidic, Fabio, Welbeck, Anderson, Gibson, Obertan, Rooney, Berbatov.

The fact that Rooney came off early against Everton could be a clue that he was in mind for this one but should it transpire that Fergie just brought him off in order to give him a rest then I wouldn’t be totally surprised to see Macheda take his place.

If that kind of team is anything like the team Fergie puts out then expect to see the likes of Giggs, Scholes and Rooney on the bench and ready to come on should things not go quite to plan.

If picking the team for this one is difficult enough then guessing what will happen in the game itself is even harder.

Besiktas provided quite stubborn opposition when we played them in the Group opener at their place but there was always a feeling that we were playing within ourselves and once we started to turn the screw a bit towards the end, the goal came and we won 1-0.

Whilst Besiktas seemed to be decent enough in defence and midfield, they were lacking any real quality up front on that occasion. The fact that since then, they have managed just one goal in the opening four Champions League matches probably bears this out.

They are currently rooted to the bottom of the group with just one point from their games and I think it would take something pretty strange to happen for them to grab the third position.

So basically, what we have here is a situation where neither team have an awful lot to gain or lose whatever the result here tonight.

This could lead to a much more open game than we saw in Turkey at the start of the campaign.

I can’t quite see the silly goal-fest type scoreline we saw in our last match against CSKA Moscow largely because I don’t think Besiktas will come anywhere near scoring three but I can see us scoring two or three.

However, with so many unknowns, it is not a game I would really want to get too involved with from a betting perspective.

However, I am going to put my faith in Fergie and trust that whoever he picks here tonight will come out all guns blazing and that Besiktas will be picked off whenever they decide to come out of their shell.

The bet is 2 points Manchester United -1.5 AH @ 2.15 with Canbet.

Well, I wasn’t too far out with my team selection but I honestly didn’t see Macheda and Welbeck starting upfront here. Rafael was also preferred to Fabio in the left-back position and Ji Sung Park made something of a surprise re-appearance on the left.

It was a highly experimental line-up from Fergie but whilst he will probably get a lot of criticism, particularly in view of the result,  there aren’t many “meaningless” games in a season for Fergie to have a real tinker like this so I suppose he can be forgiven for taking the opportunity here.

Besiktas hadn’t won away from home in Europe since a 1-0 win against Chelsea way back in 2003 and one goal in four games in this campaign suggested that they wouldn’t be troubling Ben Foster too much in this game.

Besides, we only needed a draw to preserve our long home unbeaten run and a draw would have also guaranteed us top spot in the group as Wolfsburg were earlier, and somewhat surprisingly, beaten 2-1 by CSKA Moscow after they had taken a 1-0 lead.

There were a few talking points in this one but I will probably write seperate articles for them but the main concern for me is our continuing inability to score. It doesn’t seem to matter too much who Fergie plays up front at the moment as they are all making very hard work of creating chances.

To be fair, Besiktas were very well organised here tonight and whenever we were in possession they seemed to almost go into a 8-1-1 formation which made the penalty area extremely congested and we just could not come up with a way through.

So, in the end, Tello’s deflected shot after 20 minutes was enough to give them all three points and leave Fergie and his boys a bit red-faced.

As for the bet, I still think it was the value. The team Fergie put out here tonight could have clicked and they could well have won the game and if they could win the game by one goal, then they could have won the game by two goals.

On the night, they didn’t quite click and a bit of bad luck at important moments cost us.

Tuesday, 3rd November 2009 – KO: 19:45

Now this is a strange one.

Normally, it is the Carling Cup games that have us guessing at the team Fergie will put out, Champions League teams are usually comparatively easy to predict.

However, with all due respect to CSKA Moscow and with all due respect to UEFA, this Champions League tie is not our biggest game of the week.

That comes on Sunday when we travel to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea in the Premier League and whilst everyone will be trotting out the usual “one game at a time” cliches, that game will be on Fergie’s mind here and it will be on the mind of the players picked for this CSKA Moscow match.

If predicting the team is difficult then predicting the result is just as difficult.

A win would be great because that would pretty much seal top spot in the group (although Wolfsburg could still finish one point ahead of us, theoretically). A draw would be fine because that would guarantee us second place and a place in the next round.

The problem is that whilst it is hard to see, even a defeat would not be a disaster.

However, there are some clues as to what might happen here.

Basically, CSKA Moscow gave us very little to worry about when we played them at their place the other week. We were the ones who had done all the travelling, it was their home ground and it was their fancy pitch but we managed to overcome all of this, grab the vital goal and come away with the points.

And this is a characteristic of Manchester United so far this season. We are very hard to beat and far more often than not, we do just enough to get the result we need.

It also doesn’t seem to matter too much who Fergie chooses to play.

So far, it seems that certain absentees include Ferdinand, Vidic, Rooney, Giggs and Park whilst Berbatov is apparently a doubt.

So, it looks like the defensive partnership of Brown and Evans will be used again here, it wouldn’t be a total surprise if Evra was given a breather in favour of Fabio with either Rafael or Neville taking the right sided berth.

Foster could well be handed the gloves again for this one.

In midfield, there’s a decision to be made on Darren Fletcher I feel. If he has recovered from his recent injury then he will undoubtedly play against Chelsea and the decision is whether to throw him into that game “cold” or give him some minutes in this one.

I think he might well come on at some point but Anderson and Scholes to start seems likely with Nani on the left and possibly a slight surprise with Welbeck or Obertan on the right.

Up front, Rooney and Berbatov were probably going to be rested for Chelsea, even if they were available and so Owen might find himself partnering Macheda.

There have been some suggestions that a 4-5-1 could be employed with Owen up front alone but that is not really how we play at Old Trafford and I believe it will be the good old 4-4-2.

If it is 4-5-1 then Fergie is playing for the draw with the hope of nicking one for the win again.

It would be nice to think, however, that a 4-4-2 at Old Trafford in the Champions League, whoever Fergie picks, will be suitably inspired to deal with CSKA Moscow fairly comfortably.

It’s probably about time that we won one of our Group games with a bit of style and I think this could be the game.

As for CSKA Moscow, all is not well in their camp. Shortly after we played them, they were soundly beaten 3-1 by local rivals FC Moscow when they were massive odds-on favourites to win. Juande Ramos was sacked as a result after just 47 days in charge.

When we played them at their place the other week, we played a patient game and coped with most of what they had to offer quite easily. When we started to put our foot on the gas, things started to look a bit ominous for CSKA until we finally made the breakthough with four minutes remaining.

CSKA might think they lived with us and that they almost held us to a draw but United were playing well within themselves.

I can see an early goal for United in this one and at least one more at some point. CSKA Moscow looked quite toothless in attack and if they score even once it would be a surprise.

I can see us winning this 2-0 or possibly 3-0.

The bookies don’t agree and think we will just sneak another narrow victory or draw.

It normally pays NOT to back a team when they don’t NEED to win but on this occasion, I am going to go against my own advice. I think we will win this one because we will create chances and a couple will be converted whereas CSKA will create very little and won’t score.

The bet is 2 points Manchester United -1.5 Goals @ 2.34 with Canbet.

I normally watch a replay of the match before writing my review but in this case, I don’t think it is necessary.

I underestimated CSKA Moscow here but in my defence, I don’t think I was the only person in Manchester this evening who underestimated them.

A backline of Neville, Brown, Evans and Fabio looked pretty good to me but they were at fault for all CSKA Moscow’s goals.

That said, I think sometimes Lady Luck goes with one team and she definitely had her eye on CSKA tonight.

We started very brightly and Michael Owen could have had a hat-trick by the time he scored his first goal and I had no doubt in my mind that my bet would be a winner tonight but full credit to CSKA, they came out, threw a bit of caution to the wind and the scraps of chances they created, they took with aplomb.

However, I am still a bit gutted because when I was writing my preview, I kept coming back to something I had written:-

“And this is a characteristic of Manchester United so far this season. We are very hard to beat and far more often than not, we do just enough to get the result we need.”

Tonight we needed a draw and we did just enough to get it.

A lot might be said of the missed chances by Manchester United and a lot might be said about the blatant penalty that Fletcher was denied but even had things gone our way, I still think now that we would have finished this game level.

Full credit to Manchester United for coming back from 3-1 down with the clock ticking away but the players on the pitch should have done better really.

Still, we have got the result we wanted and another point from each of our next two Champions League matches will see us topping the group.

Wednesday, 21st October 2009 – KO: 17:30

An unusual kick-off time for this one in order to cater for the Russian TV audience which somehow just won’t be the same for us Brits but there you go.

Onto the match…

As I have said on this site before, Fergie’s formula for success in the Champions League Group Stage has always been to win the home games and get what he can from the away games.

Whilst neither performance has been particularly convincing, we have won each of our opening two games by a solitary goal and we currently sit top of the group. The “bonus points” probably came from our away win against Besiktas.

A win here tonight would put us within touching distance of qualification from the group phase (we would probably need one more point from the remaining three games to be sure).

Personally, I think a draw is the more likely result here tonight and would probably be considered more than acceptable.

CSKA Moscow have a very good record at home and have won their last six European matches at the Luzhniki Stadium.

Apparently they like to play a 4-5-1 formation, hoping to hit teams on the counter, even when at home, which could be interesting because that is often the way we play European ties away from home.

I have been mulling over this one quite a bit for the last couple of days and whilst I cannot see a CSKA Moscow win here, I cannot quite decide whether we will win or draw. The value in such a situation would lie with opting for the draw here but I do still have a slight bias towards a United win.

Much could depend on how we start here tonight. We have scored a couple of very early goals in our recent games as we have come flying out of the traps but away from home in Europe against a counter-attacking side, Fergie might be more cautious in his approach.

CSKA Moscow need the points more than we do here tonight and it may be that it will be up to US to soak up a bit of pressure and hit THEM on the counter.

Given the two similar styles and formations, it would not surprise me if we cancelled each other out a lot in this one with perhaps a solitary goal for either side deciding the outcome.

I just have a strong feeling that this is not going to be a high scoring game.

The bet is 4 points UNDER 2.5 Goals @ 1.72 with Stan James.

I think this one went pretty much according to plan.

We were in control for the vast majority of the game although, of course, as you would expect when playing a decent team on their own ground, they did have their moments and even had the ball in the back of the net which was luckily (although correctly) ruled offside.

As the game wore on, particularly in the second half, it was as though the United players realised that they had seen just about the best that CSKA had to offer and decided to actually go for the three points rather than settle for the single point.

The wide men, Valencia and Nani, came inside a lot more to make a more spear-headed attack and offer some more support to the lone front-man, Berbatov.

As full time drew ever closer we kept on piling on the pressure until eventually the goal came from Valencia for his second United goal ever (and in successive games).

United won 1-0, the bet never really looked in danger and we are now officially one point away from certain qualification from the group stage.

A great day.

Wednesday, 30th September 2009 – KO: 19:45

I remember when the Champions League draw was being made a month or so ago, the team from “Pot Four” that no one really wanted to draw was Wolfsburg.

It is actually quite strange how they found themselves in Pot Four alongside all those sides which are more than likely going to be the “whipping boys” of their respective Groups when Bayern Munich were in Pot One but there you go.

Wolfsburg are, of course, the current Bundesliga Champions but just a couple of seasons before that, they were on the brink of relegation. It is almost like the equivalent of, say, Wigan winning the Premier League this season.

Some achievement.

Their success last season was largely down to their strike partnership of Grafite and Edin Džeko who scored 54 goals between them in the Bundesliga and 71 goals between them in all competitions which is obviously quite remarkable.

Both of them should play in this game.

Okay, that’s the bad news out of the way.

The good news is that whilst they score plenty, they can concede a few and in this season’s League campaign, they have scored fifteen but conceded fourteen in the process (seven matches played so far).

The other good news is that we are Manchester United and this is Old Trafford and our record at Old Trafford in Europe has been exceptional in recent seasons.

We have had our scares so far this season but have just that solitary (bizarre!) defeat to Burnley spoiling an otherwise perfect record and we do seem to be a very hard team to beat… even when a team thinks they have us beat.

I’m not going to over-analyse this one further. It should be a very entertaining game and I do expect plenty of goal-mouth action.

The only thing I can see spoiling this bet is if we are overly cautious and go for the patient approach but this has tended to be a trait in our away European games rather than at home. If our strikers bring their scoring boots, we should score against Wolfsburg and if Wolfsburg’s strikers get a sniff, they could well score one or even two of their own.

I would be very surprised if this is a low-scoring game and so I’m going to bump up the ante with the bet here.

The bet is 8 Points OVER 2.5 goals @ 1.66 with BetFred.

Well I must admit that when I placed this bet, 0-0 at Half-Time was NOT what I had in mind.

It was a strange first half with Wolfsburg coming out all guns blazing for the first 20 minutes when you would normally expect it to be the other way round when we’re playing at home in Europe.

After that first 20 minutes or so, we did start to get to grips with Wolfsburg and started to impose ourselves a bit more.

All things considered though, it was probably Wolfsburg who enjoyed the better chances in the first half and for a defence that concedes a lot of goals, they did seem very tight and organised and they caught us off-side time and time again.

As the first half came to a close with the score at 0-0 I felt that the only thing that would rescue the bet was for Wolfsburg to score first in the second half.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long when they took the lead after around 56 minutes from the head of the towering Dzeko.

It’s not the first time we have seen United spurred into action from being behind (and it surely won’t be the last) but you could sense immediately that they had finally upped it a gear and thanks to a huge deflection from a Ryan Giggs free-kick, we were level again just a few minutes later.

At 1-1, the game almost settled back into the same pattern as when the game was 0-0 but you just got the sense that United, having been given the wake-up call, were gunning for that second.

It duly came from a nice passing movement around the Wolfsburg box which was finished very calmly by Michael Carrick.

A huge sigh of relief came immediately after that goal. There was no doubt that United entered this game expecting to win but great credit must go to Wolfsburg who did not come here to lie down and they will surely be following us into the next stage of the competition.

A couple of other things are worth mentioning here.

Firstly, Dimitar Berbatov started on the bench with Michael Owen given the nod but with the latter having to come off after around 20 minutes due to a groin strain, Berby was given his chance to shine.

He took it magnificently and at last showed a bit more of the class that we paid £30 Million for. So much of the game revolved around Berby after his introduction and whilst he didn’t score (never looked like scoring to be honest) he did more than enough to suggest that he might finally be reproducing some of the form that made us sign him in the first place. I’ll probably write another article on this very soon.

The other player who stood out here tonight was Michael Carrick. He has been largely overlooked so far this season. Fletcher has been immense and it is hard to leave out Scholes and/or Anderson. Carrick was starting to look like the forgotten man and with Hargreaves on his way back, things were starting to look a bit bleak for Carrick.

However, not only did he show remarkable composure for the goal, he also produced some excellent passes and great tackles. His overall performance tonight was top class and he has surely pushed himself to the fore of Fergie’s thinking once again.

Valencia had a decent game but he is already starting to be quite predictable. He will get the ball at his feet, stop the ball, do a couple of jinks but always flick it to his right and attempt to cross from a more or less standing start from behind the opposing defender.

There were a couple of occasions when the ball was begging to be crossed in first time whilst he was on the run but he always chose to trap it and go through the routine above.

If he can learn to play the ball in that bit quicker and with accuracy when the moment demands it then we might just have a player on the right again.

Tuesday, 15th September 2009 – KO: 19:45

Not easy to know exactly what to make of this game. Although Besiktas enter this Champions League campaign as Turkish Champions, they have not exactly been setting the world alight so far in their domestic league this season.

Like us, they have played five matches but currently sit in 10th place in their league with just one win and their most recent match saw them thrashed 3-0 by rivals Galatasaray.

One thing I have noticed about their results, even when they won the league last season is that they don’t seem to be particularly prolific scorers – their top scorer last season was Bobo with just eleven goals.

So far this season they have scored just three goals in their opening five matches.

They didn’t make the Champions League last season but they did appear in the 2007-08 Champions League and, somewhat typically for a Turkish side, they beat Liverpool at home but were subsequently hammered 8-0 in the return leg and finished bottom of the group.

As for their players, I don’t know much about them to be quite honest. The goalkeeper Rustu Recber will be familiar to most – long hair, war paint on his face, got confused between the ball and Kieron Dyer’s head a few years ago – you’ll know him when you see him.

Another familiar name is Nihat who has been playing in Spain for the last few years and did quite well but has had a few injuries and came back to Turkey after last season.

What is not beyond doubt is that Besiktas will be up for this one and their crowd will be behind their team from the first minute until the last. Every time we visit Turkey, we are promised “hell” and I think we will be getting it again this evening.

Whilst we have never actually played Besiktas before, we have played Turkish opposition four times and we have won one, drawn two and lost one but it must be said that that defeat came against Fenerbahce in 2004, it was the last game of the group stages, we had already qualified for the last sixteen and Fergie made wholesale changes to the side.

Still, what it does show is that Turkish sides are a completely different proposition at home to what they are away and will certainly provide a strong challenge here tonight.

Anyway, enough about Besiktas. What about United?

Well, after a slow start, it does look like we are now clicking into gear and our performance against Spurs on Saturday was certainly our best of the season so far.

However, it is almost certain that several of the players who featured in that match will not be playing here tonight.

Whilst Fergie might like their experience on the pitch, I cannot see both Scholes and Giggs starting again here and Fletcher is probably deserving of a rest so if I am anywhere near right with that, it leaves a midfield of Anderson, Carrick, Nani and Valencia which looks decent enough on paper (if a little inexperienced) and if that is the case then this will be a massive test for them.

Up front, Rooney has been immense so far this season but he is another who probably deserves a breather and Owen could well come in to partner Berby.

The odds on United (around 1.50) suggest we will win this one easily and whilst I would not bet against us winning, I am not tempted by such skinniness at all. A win would be a great result and a great start to the campaign but it is not necessary. I’m sure that if we head home with a point on the table, Fergie will be quite satisfied with that.

What I am looking for however is for our defence and midfield to be strong and deny the already goal-shy Besktas any opportunities. After going a goal down within a minute against Spurs, I am sure Fergie will be stressing the importance of concentration, particularly given the noisy crowd at the start of the match which is all designed to disturb the players.

So, I see a slow and patient start from United who will want to draw on all their European experience before grabbing a goal or two of their own.

Of course, all hell could break lose here tonight, Besiktas could finally find their scoring boots and we might have one of those nights where everything we do ends in a goal but all things considered, I think a low scoring affair is on the cards.

The bet is 4 points UNDER 2.5 Goals at 1.80 with Paddy Power.

There’s not much to say about this game (although I’ll probably find something to waffle on about for six pages anyway).

I was close with my team selection but Fergie persisted with his 4-5-1 away-in-Europe formation which left Rooney on his own up front.

My main gaffes were with the Besiktas team as every player I mentioned didn’t even start here although Nihat did come on towards the end of the game.

Their main keeper Recber, perhaps fearing the worst, pulled a sicky just before kick-off and their main striker Bobo left the ground in a huff after being told he wasn’t going to start.

I think all you can say about this one was it was a very professional performance from United. It just wasn’t a very United-like performance and the emphasis did appear to be “don’t lose” rather than “win” and I think we spent the first hour just checking Besiktas out.

My assessment were that they were well organised in defence, decent enough in midfield but totally toothless up-front.

Around 65-70 minutes, Fergie rang the changes and brought on Berby and Owen, taking off Carrick and Rooney.

Rooney was absolutely disgusted at the decision and I hope he brings some of that pent up anger to the table when he starts against City on Sunday.

However, the change did seem to signify a notice of intent from United and we seemed to press forward more in the period between the substitutions and Scholes’ goal and it always looked likely that we would be able to move up a gear and grab a goal because, in truth, Besiktas were a league below Manchester United and we probably showed them a bit too much respect early doors.

I’m sure some Manchester United fans will be moaning about the formation and the tactics but I think the object here was to get off to a decent start and Fergie will simply point to the Group Table which shows us with three points from one game and with a pretty undesirable away tie out of the way.

The really good nights will come at OT and if Besiktas dare to think that they lived with us for almost 80 minutes here tonight, they will be in for a massive shock when they come to Old Trafford at the end of November ‘cos they ain’t seen nothing yet!