Man United held by Rangers in Champions' League opening game
Even inclusion of Wayne Rooney couldn’t inspire Manchester United to grab three points at Old Trafford as disciplined Rangers held Sir Alex Ferguson’s men in the opening match of UEFA Champions’ League 2010-11. Walter Smith’s plan was perfectly executed by the Scottish club as they drew first blood in the ‘Battle of Britain’.
Losing points on the home soil was not the only concern on Ferguson’s mind as injury to Antonio Valencia has further depleted the resources for United this season. Valencia broke his bone around the ankle which will certainly rule him out for at least rest of the season. Similarly, Rooney, who has been marred by a private scandal these days, once again failed to impress on the field as he hardly troubled the Ranger’s defense with his play. Darron Gibson was the only positive for United in the match as he threatened the opposition with an array of attempts at the goal.
Sir Alex made 10 changes to the side which drew against Everton. Ferdinand and Rooney were among the players which were brought for this match. It was highly unusual for the manager to make alteration on such massive scale for opening game of Europe’s premier competition. But it also shows the dismal condition of Scottish football that Ferguson was confident enough to grind victory with team composed of rookies such as Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling. However, Rangers’ strategy of employing five men at defense and adoption of ultra-defensive tactics paid dividend for them as Manchester United failed to create a single clear cut chance in a highly slow and monotonous match.
Darren Fletcher was the only player who retained his place for this match while Ferguson’s mass alteration has been severely pinned by the pundits. But still, Ferguson defended his team selection and instead credited Rangers for their hard work. The United’s boss said: “The criticism will be why I didn’t play a stronger team. I think I played a very strong team. People forget eight of them played against Chelsea in the Charity (Community) Shield. They should have won that game, but give credit to Rangers, their system is very difficult to break down.” Nevertheless, he admitted his mistake of not putting in-form Dimitar Berbatov on the bench. According to Ferguson, Berbatov is the most in-form and prolific players for United this season. He further asserted that his inclusion would have made the difference for them in the match.
On the other hand, Rangers’ manager Walter Smith criticized UEFA for creating situation in which there is so much financial disparity between the clubs. He said, “I am proud of the way my players played. They are up against a situation that's not of their making. UEFA are allowing a situation to develop that is totally wrong. Bigger clubs in smaller countries are being drastically affected by the lack of finance and it's very difficult to compete.” He further said that due to such environment, clubs in smaller countries are suffering badly. “I'm not just talking about Scotland. Clubs in Holland, Portugal and other countries are all suffering badly. They have next to no chance of winning the Champions League, the same as 85% of English teams have no chance of winning their league. It's far easier to try to stop other teams playing than it is to create,” Smith said.
Walter pointed to the fact that despite playing their second string team, United were a superior outfit. According to him, players such Xavier Hernandez and Gibson are capable of playing in any top premiership club. With such disparity, it is difficult for smaller clubs to compete at such high level. He said, “Rangers and Celtic have handled the situation in the Europa League but it's difficult in the Champions League with the financial disparity there is.”
Nevertheless, Manchester United will need to review their strategy if they want to win matches this season as they have once again failed to produce a positive result.
Tags: