The latest destination for the Tigers on the premier league journey was the biggest stage and, perhaps, the biggest test so far. Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams, the stage in years past from where the likes of Best, Law, Charlton, Robson & Cantona have wowed audiences and from where, currently, the likes of Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov continue to perform. After coming down to earth against Chelsea, the Tigers' players must have been asking themselves questions.
"Do we belong on this stage?"
"Can we grace the same pitch as the Rooney's and Ronaldo's?"
The answer was an unequivocal "Yes". For what our Tigers lack in ability, they make up for in endeavor, in spirit and in sheer bloody mindedness. There is a positive desperation in our squad, desperation to make it at the top level and a desire to give everything they have to make it happen. It wasn't easy today; the opposition were after all, the reigning Champions of Europe, but the attitude in the City side shone through and despite every set-back, they gave and incredible account of themselves and sent the traveling support home feeling like we'd won.
As expected, Bryan Hughes replaced Ash in midfield. Hughes went left of the three with Boateng playing the holding role. We missed Ash, we barely won a tackle in midfield all afternoon and we especially missed him in the third minute when Ronaldo marched into the Ash-less zone on the edge of our box and hammered a low shot past Boaz, in off the right hand post. The United fans sensed a rout and I'm sure a few City fans feared it too but the response form the City players was incredible. They were unnerved by the goal and were absolutely superb for half an hour. United threatened, they always will with the talent they have, but we controlled the ball. Marney seemed to have every second touch , we got the ball into King and it stuck and Geovanni strolled around the pitch picking up possession and trying to make incisive passes. We were rewarded with a terrific equaliser. King held up a long pass down the right and turned Vidic, who had a chunk of his shirt. Mike Dean, the spineless referee, gave us about our only free-kick of the entire half. In fairness, King had Vidic's shirt too, but we didn't care. Marney and Dawson stood over the ball, Marney picked it up, then put it down and Daws delivered a sweet inswinger onto the head of Daniel Cousin, flying above the United defence, and he glanced it into the far corner. We'd done it again. The goal inspired even more confidence in the City side, too much in fact. We over played in stupid positions, Geovanni in particular and took the game to United, leaving gaps in behind our midfield, who aside from Marney, were very immobile. United broke away and scored a second through Michael Carrick and then piled the pressure on us. We stood firm, Zayatte and Turner were terrific and Myhill made two very good stops. The movement from Rooney and Berbatov was out of this world, while Ronaldo popped up all over the place but our defensive did a terrific job of reading the passes in and cut out a lot of the ball. We'd done enough to get in at half time a goal down and regroup when we conceded a corner around the 43 minute mark and then let Ronaldo head home at the near post. It was terrible defending and totally wiped away 15 minutes of superb work.
We started the second half unchanged, which I thought was a mistake. We were poor in midfield, Boateng and Hughes hadn't affected the game at all. We needed a spark from somewhere. A friend commented that she'd like to see Mendy on. It needed something different, certainly, and Mendy's legs in midfield would've helped. We didn't start too badly but United were enjoying themselves and threatening to cut through us. We were just about coping with them but not offering a great attacking threat. Berbatov lashed a shot narrowly wide. As Myhill retrieved the ball from behind the goal, wile the City fan's sang loudly "What a waste of money". I thought it ridiculously harsh. He only cost fifty grand! We then faced a corner from our left, which fell to Ferdinand's feet. Hughes did a terrific job of knocking him off the ball but then turned into the ball and knocked it out for a corner. That would be costly as Rooney delivered, Turner misjudged the ball and Vidic was allowed to side foot it into the net from 8 yards. More absolutely criminal defending. We had plenty of warning at West Brom last week that our defending of corners wasn't up to scratch and this week, we were punished twice. We'd played well and defended superbly but two momentary lapses left us staring a good hiding square in the face. Phil Brown reacted to the goal by pulling King and Hughes for Mendy and Halmosi, giving us a 4-4-2 with Geovanni right up front alongside Cousin. We started to claw our way back into the game, perhaps united took their foot of the gas a little, but we kept the ball a bit better in the middle, and looked for Mendy to scare them a bit. He's had two decent runs down the right at Evra and worried his big mate a bit, when Boateng picked up the ball on our left and launched it across the field for Mendy, he beat Evra to the ball and then lobbed the advancing Van der Sar, only to see Vidic clear acrobatically off the line. The linesman decided that the ball had crossed the line before Vidic could clear and we were back in it. The next 15 minutes was absolutely excellent. We tried and tried to attack them. Cousin's hold up play was incredible, Geovanni drove at them and tested Van der Sar, Mendy was a nuisance and we started to pick up the loose balls in midfield. We were still highly susceptible to the counter attack and needed a good block on Rooney from McShane, another fine save from Myhill, some great interceptions from Turner and Zayatte's latest attempt to win the "Tackle of the season" award to keep them out. Then, a miracle happened. Halmosi raced forward with the ball and slipped it into Mendy who outstripped the highly impressive Ferdinand, forcing the defender to knock him over in the box. The referee visibly grew a set and then pointed to the spot. Geovanni tucked it away nicely and gave the Tigers ten minutes to rescue a point. We never really got the chance as the last ten became bitty, which suited United. Hamosi and Neville clashed heads and then Rooney, Mendy and Tevez were booked in quick succession for three untidy tackles. They put on O'Shea, who did a decent job of cutting out any supply to Geovanni and we couldn't quite find a way through. In stoppage time, a gap opened up for Dawson about 25 yards out but he chose to try a chip across the area instead. I think he'll regret that decision, it was well worth a hit. That was about the last action. If it'd been 4-3 to us, the ref would have awarded 5 minutes of stoppage time and played 10. In this situation, he gave a stingy three and played about 2 and a half!
A much better day for Myhill. Very solid and made 4 good stops, getting a really strong hand (or fist) behind them. McShane was keen to impress against another former side and he did just that. There cannot be many more determined players in the game and he makes up for everything he doesn't have by working as hard as he possibly can to be where he needs to be and when he gets there , he does everything he can to come away with the football. He's the embodiment of this City side at the moment. Dawson had another fine game, he made one superb challenge on Rooney in the first half, it might even have been the one that conceded the corner for their third goal. He didn't see as much of the ball as on Wednesday but he was pretty assured. Ronaldo had a free run at goal in the first half when Daws was missing completely but that apart, not a lot wrong. Turner was excellent. He had a lot of work to do, playing against three forwards who were quick, intelligent and excellent on the ball. He was booked for a late tackle on Nani and he might've been sent off for bringing down Carrick on the edge of the box. I think he was culpable for the Vidic goal, I certainly expect better form a player of his talent. Otherwise though, he was superb. I lost count of how many times he read United play on the edge of the box and strolled out with the ball. He won headers (duh), made tackles and blocks and put himself in the way of whatever he could. Zayatte was even better. There is a serious danger of bigger clubs noticing Kam flying across their radar. He's incredible. He dealt with everything in the first half, headers, tackles, you name it. His challenge on Rooney in the second half was outstanding, one of the best bits of defending you'll ever see. He's just so unassuming, he's calm on the ball and he's a terrific defender. He needs to communicate better but there is an excellent player developing in front of our eyes.
Midfield was a big disappointment today, Boateng in particular. He looked like he was running in treacle for the first hour. He didn't get anywhere near United. He was fine with the ball at his feet but it had to be delivered to him, there was no way he was going to win it. To his credit, in the last half hour when we were pressing, he was much better and showed some real quality in possession. He was still very poor as a defending midfielder. His legs just weren't up to it. Hughes had a tough job, replacing Ash, and he didn't do it with any effect. He was tidy on the ball the few times he got it but he barely put in a tackle. You'd be forgiven if you forgot he was playing. Marney was the exception. He was incredible. He covered the ground, demanding the ball. He wanted to take the responsibility and he did a fine job of keeping us moving and more to the point, keeping us moving forward. He did a lot of work off the ball to get into a position were he could be effective. In attack, that meant moving to receive the ball, while in defense, it meant getting between their midfield and attack. He didn't do a particularly good job of winning the ball, in all honesty, but he tried hard enough. I think it was his finest game for City, he looked like a playmaker in the middle and he looked like a confident, experienced player who wanted the ball, wanted to relieve pressure on his team mates and wanted to create openings for his team. Mendy gave PB a lot to think about for next week (which ironically is the visit of his ex-club, Bolton). He was busy off the ball, he made himself a target and on the ball, he showed great quality and incredible speed. Halmosi did a decent job off the bench too. The only problem for both guys is that including them, together or separately, almost certainly forces a change in formation and PB seems to like the 4-3-1-2.
Geovanni was impressive for the most part. He picked up the ball far more often than he usually does. He looked like he was free to play wherever he wanted, rather than sticking in 'the hole'. He lost possession in our half a few times and had some passes fly into touch but when a player is prepared to be brave and to try something different that might open up the opposition, it's easy to forgive him and move on. He needs to move a little quicker sometimes, he can't always have time to think about what he's going to do but we need to continue to feed him. A few weeks ago, he was scoring great goals but not always contributing a lot else, now his work rate is much higher, he's working hard off the ball to find space and he's trying more with the ball. He's looking more confident and is taking players on and trying to find the killer pass. Long may that continue? Marlon King rebounded from the Chelsea game with a good performance. He was a target, he was strong and quick and he caused Vidic a problem. He gave as good as he got all afternoon and he gave us a good out ball. He was outdone a bit by Cousin, who was excellent again. He's a tad different from King, he's better in the air and he's got fantastic dribbling ability. He drops just a yard or two deeper than King and likes to try and turn, or move across the pitch with the ball looking for an opening. His goal was well deserved after his performances recently. It'd be nice to see him become a bit more prolific in front of goal, all the ability is there. With his great skill and pace, he should be harming more defences. It's OK scoring against Arsenal and Manchester United but he's got to turn it on against the good teams!
So 11 games gone and 20 points. Arsenal, Chelsea and United are out of the way too. If we can find 10 more points from the 8 games to take us to half way, we'll be in a terrific position. Our form suggests we could do far better than that, but I'm not greedy. We had to show some different qualities today. We've shown the ability to defend a lead but today, we had to dig deep and find the strength of character and the quality on the ball to come back from 4-1 down against potentially, the best club side in the world. We did that, with knobs on, and we did whilst also showing great concentration in defence and dealing with world class attacking players. Today was terrific, the opposition were great, some of the movement and the passing was fantastic to watch, but seeing Hull City match Manchester United in some areas, surpass them in others and make up for everything else with sheer bloody-mindedness was truly joyful. The tiger nation were absolutely superb in their support too.
Ratings: Myhill 8, McShane 7, Dawson 7, Turner 8, Zayatte 9, Boateng 6 (Folan), Hughes 5 (Mendy), Marney 8, Geovanni 7, King 7 (Halmosi), Cousin 8.