The Aftermath: United vs. Wolves

 
The Breakdown
United 3-2 Wolves


As always with our Carling Cup games, Sir Alex said he would start with a mix of experience and youth. Tonight however, was more like youth with a pinch of experience, and I loved it. Here are the players who lined up tonight:

Amos

Brown| Smalling | Evans | Fábio

Bébé | Gibson | Carrick | Park

Obertan

Macheda

A LOT of fringe/reserve players in the starting eleven and I was sitting in a pool of my own drool. But as if that wasn't enough, the bench was an even stranger mix of players.

Mick Phelan | Alex Ferguson | René Meulensteen

Kuszczak | Neville | Hernández | Rafael

Brady | Eikrem | Morrison

| The guy who holds out jackets (Albert Morgan)|

Anywho, I digress. The game got off to a promising start with a lot of good runs by Obertan and Bébé. In the end though, there were not many chances for us and the first half was a bit of a failure. Our attack couldn't breakthrough the Wolves defense and for half and hour our one chance was an Obertan shot that bounced off a defender's hand and into Hennesey's arms.

After the 30 minute mark, we started to misplace passes and our play was generally sloppy. Being the optimistic pessimist that I am, started to sense another terrible performance from the boys.

They say soccer is a game of two halves. You could say that about this game. Or you could say that it was a game of one half, which it pretty much was. 

I came back from breakfast 10 minutes into the second half and saw Bébé take it around a couple guys, attempt a cross, and then see it go over the line before it got cleared. Great call from the linesman: 1-0 United.

It didn't last long though, as Ben Amos trips while coming our for a corner and George Elokobi has an easy header into the goal.

After an incredible miss by Macheda, Park Ji-Sung capitalizes on another Macheda mistake to fake out three guys, score a brilliant goal, and get two Wolves players to slide tackle each other. THAT, my friends, was determination.

Woves equalizes soon after by taking advantage of an error by Gibson and freezing the United defense with a nifty backheel by Fletcher (no, not our Fletcher). All Kevin Foley had to do was get his shot between Jevans' legs and just out of Amos' reach. I wasn't happy.

We started playing dangerously after this and former United player Ebanks-Blake almost scored but shot high and wide. Fergie brought on Neville for Fábio and he did not help at all. In fact, he looked really out of place and unable to keep up the the Wolves attack. But cometh the man, cometh the hour as Javier Hernández was brought on for the impressive Bébé around the 80th minute and he nabs one in the 88th minute with Solskjaer like composure to win it for the good guys. 

Also, Ravel Morrison made his senior debut for us. Coming on in the last minute of injury time and not even touching the ball. Oh well, not everyone can have a Solskjaer debut. 

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The first half was meh. There were a couple of good chances for chances, but there was no ruthless in the final third. Park was invisible and Fábio looked a tad uncomfortable when under pressure. A bit more troublesome though, was the lack of spark from the usually bombastic Macheda. Like I said before, Obertan and Bébé impressed me with their crazy runs and general determination to help the team score some goals. Alas, it was all in vain as we came into halftime with no goals for either side. 

The main positives to take out of that first half were that the defense was solid and that Carrick and Gibson really controlled the midfield. Wes Brown in particular was showing everyone what wearing Manchester United's armband is all about with a commanding display from the right-back position. 

When I came back late from the second half from my vegemite and butter toast, Obertan was sprinting towards the goal. Next thing you know, Bébé tries to cross it in and it ends up beyond Hennesey, under the bar, and over the line. Tonight was Bébé's first start for United and he looked quite solid on the right wing. He didn't seem to be intimidated by the physical Wolves defense and kept plugging away and was rewarded with his first goal. Even the commentators were saying that he was most deserving of the goal after a largely disappointing first half.

The game also picked up for a lot of other players. Fábio made many key challenges to deny clear scoring opportunities and Park was running marathoning around the pitch trying to help us score. 

Before I pick my man of the match, I should probably mention that Macheda played terribly. Nothing came off for him and although he was making the runs and putting passes to feet, he couldn't quite find the physical spark to his game that we all know he has. He even missed the goal from about 14 yards, smashing the ball high. Also, Ben Amos gets a facepalm for falling over while coming out for the ball and giving Wolves the chance to score their first goal.

Anyway, the best player award goes to Chris Smalling who, despite not being overly outstanding, really solidified the defense and helped out the usually dependable Jevans who was having a bit of an off night tonight. I think Fergie is gonna have to seriously start reconsidering the defensive pecking order.

Manchester United. One Love.

Oh and by the way, I TOLD Y'ALL that Obertan was gonna start.