Football Update: Premiere League News- Birmingham Draws with United with a late goal
Manchester United is all set to finish 2010 year calendar on top of the Premier League. Despite their yet another away draw with Birmingham, Manchester United are still on top of the league, leading the charts on their goal differences. Manchester United’s
draw was although a disappointment, yet they still look strongest contestant for the title.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lee-Bowyer-c21864 succeeded in getting a late equalizer. Lee Bowyer’s goal helped his side to lift up from the
bottom three of League table. On the other hand, United’s point enabled them to be ahead of the Manchester City on goal difference and two games in hand. Despite their draw with Birmingham, Manchester United is still unbeaten in the Premier League in 23 games
this year.
Manchester United performance against Birmingham was not at all satisfactory. Many holes can be picked from their performance and team play. They first half went pretty well for both teams with yellow cards shown to players of either side. Both teams tried
long range shots but failed to put their respective sides ahead on the score sheet. Dimitar Berbatov was the first one to start the offensive. He made an early run into the Home team’s box but was denied of the goal by Birmingham defender http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sebastian-Larsson-c32733.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ryan-Giggs-c31985 took an extra flight and was going into
the top right post. However the former United’s goalkeeper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ben-Foster-c7445 was able to flick the ball. The whole act left the squad in smiles.
Manchester United was looking strong in the first half. With almost 60% of the possession, they were keen to create chances but failed to score. Birmingham also came close with some close chances but both teams defending were top notch. Probably that is
the reason why they picked up so many back to back yellow cards. At first Manchester United Anderson got involved in a spit with the Birmingham’s midfielder http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nemanja-Vidic-c27550 header in the late first half was also quite impressive but Ben Foster
was up to the task. The first half went nil-nil with both managers having plenty to say to their teams in the dressing rooms.
The second half started in some style. With both teams motivated to go in front, the hopes were high. But it was Manchester United who succeeded to go in front. The first goal of the game came in the 58th
minute resulting from a sheer class of touch from the Dimitar Berbatov. Gibson gave Berbatov a probing pass which was back footed to him. Berbatov made a run and Gibson knew exactly when to pass the ball to the striker. Berbatov was quick in judging the
lose spot and was able drill a low shot in the corner of the net. He was again close in adding another goal just after two minutes inside the box. Berbatov was quick with his feet and shot a low rolling shot beating Foster was denied off the right post. Nemanja
Vidic header in the 78th minute was also quite impressive but Ben Foster was up to the task.
The second half was almost finished and it seemed as if Manchester United will taste the glory of the victory but things took an unexpected turn. With the extra time about to start, there was still a time for a late miracle for Birmingham and that is exactly
what happened. The former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 midfielder Lee Bowyer made no mistake when a deep cross from Johnson in the 89th minute was clipped into the United’s goal net. There were many speculations regarding the goal with a doubt of a foul over the defender
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rio-Ferdinand-c31173 by Nikola Zigic. However, Birmingham was rewarded the goal and the match ended up in a draw.
Manchester United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson criticized the match referee. He claimed that his side did a fantastic job but nothing could be done if the referee was unable to judge the foul. He labelled the whole incident unfortunate and later criticized
the referee by saying “if he can’t see that what chance you have got? I can’t fault my team tonight. They worked hard; they’ve run their socks off with little rest. It’s hard on them, it’s hard. I think it is terribly harsh, I think we outplayed them in
the second half and we didn’t deserve that.”
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