Blog of the Orkut Man United Charity.

I have never been a fan of the 4-5-1 system; I think our team plays the best with two men upfront, a vibrant 4-4-2 system. Hence when I saw our line-up last night, I was worried that we may just have to pay the price for being cautious. A midfield of Scholes, Hargreaves and Anderson, with Giggs and Ronaldo on the flanks left Rooney all alone upfront and that for me was the biggest concern. Rooney doesn’t really fancy playing all alone upfront, and with the kind of understanding that he and Tevez have developed it was sure that he was going to miss the company of the United #32. So here is the match report.

Lyon started off quite well, and for the first 20 minutes, ran the show almost entirely. However, they were not able to create any clear cut opportunity, and the only real threat to the United goal came from Rio Ferdinand who sliced his clearance and was relieved to see it go just wide of the goal. As the half went by we seemed to settle nicely, and Rooney had arguably the best chance of the first half, but was unable to chip the oncoming Lyon goalkeeper. United finished the half better than Lyon with Scholes getting another chance to make a forward run and have a shot at the Lyon goal, but it was blocked by Boumsong.

United started the second half just well as they had finished the first, but a moment of brilliance from Karim Benzema helped Lyon gain the lead. It has to be said that the goal came much against the round of play. With less than half an hour left, Sir Alex brought on Nani, Tevez and Carrick, and the substitutions showed their value straightaway. Tevez got his head to one of the crosses, the ball fell awkwardly for Coupet, and was tapped in by Rooney only to be disallowed as Rooney was in an offside position. I think Tevez might well have scored had Rooney not intervened as Coupet did not seem to have it covered. Into the final 10 minutes, United were still trailing by a goal to nil and it seemed that despite of playing well for a major part of the game United would not have any advantage to take with them back to Old Trafford. Ronaldo struck a good free-kick from just outside the box, the angle was quite acute but he managed to get a nice swerve on it, only to be tipped wide by Coupet. United finally scored in the 87^th minute through Tevez who scored from close range, latching onto a parried save which resulted from Carrick’s shot.

The standout players yesterday were Patrice Evra, and Tevez. Hargreaves and Anderson should start every game, it seems they have formed a brilliant understanding and complement each other very well. Nani also seems to be getting better every game, and from the opposition’s point of view, he has a tremendous nuisance value about the way he plays his football, alike his compatriot at United. Overall, a decent result for us and we should be able to finish the job in the return leg in two week’s time.