Amer would be proud, Obertan scores a beauty!
The Breakdown
Bursaspor 0-3 United
This was an interesting game to watch. Sir Alex starts Obertan, rather than Park, but after 20-ish minutes, is forced to bring on the Korean after Nani went down injured. Not good signs, Rob Swire the physio made the gesture straight away to go for a substitution.
We played a largely 4-5-1 formation, three central midfielders with Obertan on the left and Nani on the right. Bursaspor played a similar formation, with Yildirim up-front and Volkan Sen (see, he was some kind of dangerman) pulling the strings off Yildirim's shoulder.
But it was United who did most of the attacking and had most of the possession.
It was easy to tell when United were on the ball, the crowd would howl, wail and whistle when we were on the ball. Turkish crowds so totally take "hostile" to a new level.
A few decent chances spring to mind from the first half, including Fletcher's, where he had a glorious opportunity in the first half with a volley from an Evra cross.
Scholes was through on goal, and put it in the net - but the ref was all "even though I'm standing behind you and can't possibly see the ball, I can tell that that was handball."
Cue the second half, and United got on the scoresheet almost straight away. It was fantastic play from the midfield, Carrick lobs a pass over the defence to Darren Fletcher in acres of space and he duly finishes for his 2nd Champions League goal on his 50th appearance. 1-0.
And it just gets better, really. Passes start to stick, the runs that are made are seen and found by team-mates and at around 72 minutes, after a great pass from Park, Gabriel Obertan steadies himself and absolutely belts the crap out of that football into Ivankov's net. Really good goal, so good it got Martin Tyler purring. 2-0.
And it was almost United's cue to turn on the style, Fletcher's subbed off for Bebe and it paid off, barely 5 minutes from the second goal, good play from Scholes led Bebe through on goal and he finished smartly with the outside of his foot for his second ever goal. 3-0.
Other than that, Evra was replaced by Fabio on 80 and it was Fabael on both flanks, but it wasn't really long enough to make an impact on the game.
Spare a thought for Dimitar Berbatov who played as the lone striker and got absolutely no joy at all.
3-0, solid win, clean sheet and 10 points in Europe. Job done.
Reaction
Bursaspor were stubborn in the first half but I think, given the circumstances, we played well. Evra often manufactured space down the left, particularly when Nani was subbed off and Park was on—not your traditional winger, Park.
Our good play was really rewarded in the second half, where I'd say we played almost the same as we did in the first, with the exception that the chances that we got were put away very well.
The three in midfield were outstanding today, Fletcher was the more advanced of the three, with Carrick and Scholes playing in a deeper play-making/mopping-up role. Fletch and Carrick combined well for the first goal, Scholes had a hand in Bebe's and it was just a fantastic display of control in the middle for us against Bursa.
There isn't going to be much talk, I wouldn't think, about the defence, seeing as in fairness, there wasn't much for them to do. But still, Rafael and Smalling were on top form, giving nothing away. Evra, at times, slipping up and presenting the opposition with the most meagre of opportunities, but still contributed to what was an assured display at the back.
It was impressive all over the pitch! I'm absolutely ecstatic about this performance. The wingers played well, Park has showed his versatility, playing wider with the white guys in the centre of the pitch and playing as the central attacking midfielder when Bebe came on for Fletcher.
... Impressive everywhere except in the centre-forward position. Unfortunate, I'd say. It's difficult playing on your own up front, trying to get in behind 4 defenders and often 4 midfielders as well. You could argue that it was him who dragged the defenders wide which allowed Fletcher to have as much room as he did for the first goal, but that'd be the extent to which I could try and vouch for him. It was a slightly lacklustre performance from the "forlorn looking Bulgarian", as Martin Tyler put it. I back him, though. I like Berbatov, and he's shown his qualities in the past, I'd just say he needs the right conditions to motivate him to push for it. I mean, in the end it was 3-0 and the job was done.
Where We Stood, Where We Stand
I hear that Valencia beat Rangers at the Mestalla. That brings us clear by 3 points, I do believe, of Valencia at the top of Group C.
1 United|4PLD|5GD|10PTS
2 Valencia|4PLD|5GD|7PTS
3 Rangers|4PLD|-2GD|5PTS
4 Bursaspor|4PLD|-9GD|0PTS
If we beat Valencia in our next game in Europe, I think that mathematically ties up our qualification. Faaaantastic!
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