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The Glenn Hamilton View - March 18 2008 (archive)

It would be an understatement to say that Manchester United were lucky to win on Saturday. There is no question about how important the win was with Arsenal yet again drawing against a side they should have beaten soundly.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 22nd league goal was a great finish by the Portuguese winger as Manchester United supporters the world over took a collective sigh of relief. Truly it looked as if Derby County was going to pull one of the biggest upsets of the season. If it was not for the heroic goalkeeping of Ben Foster, Derby may have been able to record only their second win in the Barclay’s Premier League.
So what was the problem with Manchester United at Pride Park Stadium? Clearly the answer is their finishing in front of goal. It would seem it would be impossible for Manchester United to have problems scoring. They have arguably the best player in the world partnered with arguably the best striker in England and this is a quality that United boast and use to their full advantage.
Sir Alex Ferguson chose to play Rooney and Ronaldo up front and while the latter has been making it a habit of recent weeks to miss clear opportunities, Rooney felt content to just lay back and let Ronaldo do all the work. Rooney never seemed to get in the game and his severely lethargic approach did not help the team’s scoring chances at all.
Surprisingly, a big apparent weakness in Manchester United was their midfield. Ryan Giggs had a game he will soon want to forget as he could not complete a pass or get by any Derby defender. Giggs’ age has been a topic that has been argued for some time now and he is continuing to prove that he may not have it anymore at the top level.
Of course he was not the only culprit in midfield as Anderson had an off day as well and Ji-Sung Park hardly got in a meaningful touch. It was not until Michael Carrick made an appearance that the passing in the midfield became a bit better and accurate.
It was easy to forget that the opponents were Derby County after all. Yes you may want to rest key players and give others a chance to play 90 minutes but surely Sir Alex did not count on his team to play as poorly as they did. He has even gone so far as to admit that the shortage of goals is beginning to bother him. The question is why are United misfiring in front of goal?
A dip in form is always expected with so many games to play and player fatigue settling in. The bad thing is, this is the business end of the season and United should be showing opponents why they are champions right about now. Everyone looked at the Derby game and asked not if United would win but by how many they would win by. It is slightly alarming to see a powerful United line-up defeating the worst team (perhaps worst ever) in England by a single goal scored in the last stages of the game.
Sure this was Derby and United were always going to beat them somehow but now we look to the upcoming game against Liverpool and we are having scoring troubles. The Liverpool contest is mouthwatering at a glance. Rooney, Ronaldo against the seemingly more and more dangerous pairing of Torres, Gerrard. Fernando Torres has 20 goals this season so far, hot on the heels of Ronaldo and his partnership with Gerrard is proving to be one of the most lethal in front of goal maybe in the world.
We shall see what happens, United have every reason to feel comfortable with the defense (we do have the best in the league) coping with the threat of Torres, Gerrard but lets hope the Red Devils find where they put their scoring boots in time.

Glenn Hamilton

 

[These views are purely those of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Red Devil Radio].