Weekend Review - Part 2

Onto the Saturday tea-time fixture, via Morecambe drawing (surprise of surprises) against Rochdale at Christie Park. Again, we started slowly, again we conceded a sloppy goal and then decided we would make a fist of it after half-time.

Back home, to watch Manchester United take on West Brom at Old Trafford. West Brom put plenty in midfield to try and stifle Man Utd, and for a period it worked, although Halsey penalised Rooney for a “push” in the area after he put one in the next after about 25 minutes, then failed to penalise a West Brom defender for a similar light touch in the penalty area. So 0-0 at the break, as it does so often, turned into 4-0 at full time as Rooney managed to top his disallowed goal with an even better opener, before Ronaldo, Berbatov and Nani also got on the score sheet, taking the number of goals scored by the “Big Four” on Saturday to 15. One sided league?

On Sunday, I watched my first Serie A match of the season, as Lazio travelled to newly-promoted to Bologna. I chose this mainly because anytime Serie A is mentioned on the Guardian Podcast, their attractive play this season is always commented upon. However, this time it was Bolgona who impressed with two earlier goals as a result of non-existant marking at set pieces, before a well taken solo goal by the much travelled Marco di Viao made it 3-0 at the break. Lazio got one back in the second half, but never looked like getting anything like a draw. Perhaps it’s just me, but a number of continental sides seem to accept defeat and not try to recover once they go a couple of goals down, to try and conserve energy for matches when they might have a chance. The match finished to the sound of helicopters, perhaps braced for potential trouble from the notorious Lazio fans after the defeat, and the ban placed on them travelling to away matches by their own club.

In fairly unrelated news, it would appear Digitalb endeared themselves further to subscribers by not showing Hull City’s match against West Ham on Sunday afternoon, which had been advertised and on their EPG, preferring to show adverts and then the Milan channel in it’s place. If they do target UK subscriptions (personally I think they don’t), from comments on the Alsat forum, they will be missing quite a few next season.

League Cup; Manchester United vs Middlesbrough

Old Trafford looked to be about two thirds full, no doubt down to United’s record of going out of the competition to Championship sides in the last two seasons and also United charging full admission for the match. The match had the air of a pre-season friendly about it as there was virtually no tempo to the game. Ronaldo started the match trying various flicks and turns, almost as if himself believed the match was beneath him (he probably did – must be the first time he’s played in the third round of the League Cup for a long time). United had much the better of the first half, with the youngsters of Da Silva at right back and Possebon in midfield being particularly impressive. Amos in goal had little to do, and Wellbeck showed some good touches, but made some errors of judgement in his passing. Ronaldo got United’s first from a corner, showing his aerial ability matches his ability on the ground.

Middlesbrough changed things round in midfield in the second half, and came more into the game as a result, and got an equaliser with the aid of a deflection after about an hour. It was after that goal that the incident the match will probably be most remembered for – Emmanuel Pogatetz with a terrible challenge on Possebon, which looks to have broken the young chap’s leg. What was most infuriating about the incident was that it was malicious – the replays proved that – but Pogatetz had the audacity to argue his sending off as he left the pitch.

Fittingly, the defensive player brought on to cover for Pogatetz goofed up and passed a ball straight to Giggs for a clean run on goal to restore United’s lead, and Nani got a third from another mistake deep into injury time (nine minutes due to the treatment of Possebon).

It was a pleasing performance from United, who got a result without really appearing to try that hard, and showed that some of the youngsters on the books would be worth a look in the Premier League, especially now that 7 substitutes can be used. However, what the match is most likely to throw up is more media analysis of how reckless tackles should be punished, and how blatant disrespect like Pogatetz should be dealt with. As the match was not broadcast live in the UK, and the competition has a much lower profile than the Premier League, the bare outrage will probably not reach that of the tackle involving Arsenal’s Eduardo last season, but it is another entry in the long list of why so many people are being turned off top flight football.