English Premier League: Part 2 Losers of the second weekend
Perhaps the most hurting losers of the weekend are Manchester United. United are in some kind of a decline after winning three titles in a row and a UEFA Champions League in 2008. Ferguson’s team is lacking that cutting edge at the moment that they had in terms of Ronaldo back in the day before his record breaking transfer to Real Madrid.
Last season, Manchester United played Burnley in their second league match of the season. That match planned out pretty much like the Fulham game. Michael Carrick was the villain in that match because he failed to convert a penalty. As a result, Manchester United went on to lose. Against Fulham on the weekend, Nani stepped up to the mark for Manchester United when the score was at two goals to one in favour of United, but the Portuguese made a real mess out of his spot kick and Fulham’s goal keeper saved it.
Many Manchester United fans might have thought that, it doesn’t matter much because even if Nani had scored from the penalty kick, it would have added some gloss to United’s one goal lead. But as football has shown that a single goal lead is never a comfortable one and Manchester United found out the hard way as Fulham clawed their way back into the game through Brede Hangeland’s header right before injury time.
This has left the former Champion’s of England in a second best position again. Presently, Ferguson’s team is third best in the league table after Arsenal and Chelsea. It’s because of the goal difference between the top two and the Red Devils but it doesn’t change the fact that United are playing chase all over again. Manchester is in deficit of points when compared to Chelsea; which in itself is a worrying factor for their well wishers. After Chelsea won the league title last season, Ancelotti had remarked that he thought his team had won the title in the early weeks of the season when United were busy in their usually slow start.
Is the same situation repeating itself again? Following Manchester United’s draw with Fulham at the Craven Cottage, Sir Alex Ferguson came out and said that United does not want to drop silly points but they did so against Fulham. He added that at present, the Red Devils will have to face this reality. Such draws mean that Manchester United will probably have to do better on their travels this season. In the previous season, Manchester had lost to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge along with their inability to win against Liverpool at Anfield.
Sir Alex also made his thoughts clear on the secrecy surrounding the decision that Nani should take the penalty that had the potential to seal the win for his team. He said that Ryan Giggs should have taken it. No doubt a little inside inquest would have been carried out after the match inside Manchester United’s dressing room.
Another important factor to note is that Nani had opted to take the penalty when United were cruising in the match at two goals to one. Whether the Portuguese winger has enough of a nerve to opt for a penalty when United are in a losing position or at all levels with the opposition is one question which needs to be answered. It is quite easy for a player to convert a penalty when his team are already in a superior position in the match. But the situation is quite different as added pressure is included in the equation once your penalty kick means the difference between three points or no points.
An individual who emerged with a tarnished reputation from this match was Johnny Evans. Last season, Evans was superb for Manchester United when Rio Ferdinand was out with injury. During this match however, he was bullied around by the much bigger and physical Bobby Zamora. Maybe Zamora has given other teams in the English Premier League a blueprint as to how the young centre back can be hassled into a mistake?
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