United lined up as follows last night:
Foster; O’Shea, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Ronaldo, Gibson, Scholes, Nani; Welbeck, Tevez.
Subs: Kuszczak, Anderson, Giggs, Park, Vidic, Possebon, Eckersley.
When I saw the line-up before kick-off, I felt a certain sympathy for Ji-Sung Park. Having been omitted from the match squad for the Moscow showdown, I half expected him to be given a run out on the Wembley turf; in part as thanks for the great shift put into the United effort over the past three seasons as well as, you know, recognition as the first South Korean, etc.
In hindsight, Sir Alex did Park an enormous favour by neither naming him in the starting line up or bringing him on late in the game. It is as if to say, there are more important games for you, Ji, and there’s no use subjecting you to this.
The highlight for me was the utter ineptness of our Portugese friend: Nani was atrocious, exhibiting neither team-work or even a basic, rudimentary awareness of what was going on around him. A team player he is not, yet he displayed scant evidence of individual briliance to show himself as a star player capable of turning games – in United’s favour, I mean.
The back four looked unusually flustered – with Evra performing well below his high standards – in large part because they were left exposed, without the protection from a United midfield that was out-passed by their Spurs counterparts. Kudos to Modric, Jenas, Zakora and Lennon for excellent work. Gibson did well in parts, with some excellent vision, even if his execution let him down. Scholes , interestingly, was not his dominant self, as if instructed to let the younger Gibson take charge with the ball.
Up front, Tevez and Wellbeck was starved of service and the latter was withdrawn soon after half-time. There will be another day for him. The same cannot be said for our Nani.
