UEFA SuperCup, 29 August 2008

The curtain comes down on UEFA's jolly in Monaco with the Super Cup between Manchester United and Zenit St Petersburg.

Both teams fielded a strong line-up, Man Utd's probably as strong as it can be with their current injury worries, and Zenit had Arshavin on the bench ahead of his possible (probable?) move to Tottenham.

Zenit had much the better of the first half, creating the best chances and shutting out Manchester United well, who looked toothless up front - lots of industry from Tevez and Rooney, but little class - they look shorn of creativity up front, and much in need of a player like Berbatov, especially with Ronaldo still injured and Nani's final ball leaving a lot to be desried.

Zenit made their advantage count right at the end, when poor marking from a corner allowed Pogrebnyak to bundle the ball in. It was no less than Zenit deserved, Man Utd being vunerable at the back throughout the half, Gary Neville in particular looking hopelessly out of form. Zenit's goal brought out the flares amongst the Zenit fans, which the commentators like to tut about, but must secretly love given the dramatic effect it creates in the stand. Later in the match, the Zenit fans also demonstrated their ability to bounce in unison, much like they did in Manchester, as they turned their end into one big pogo party. It was also noticable that there were some empty spaces in the Man Utd end, which I thought was strange given the apparent desirability of the venue and the availability of cheap flights to Nice.

Zenit brought Arshavin into the game for the second half, in what could turn out to be his farewell performance for the club. However, it was the player that could turn out to be his replacement, Danny, signed for £25 million, who got Zenit's second after the hour with a fine run from the half-way line and well taken shot, which highlighted Man Utd's defensive frailties as Rio Ferdinand backed off rather than attempting to tackle. Vidic pulled a goal back from United after a corner following good work by Tevez to control a ball that landed at his feet after somewhat of a scramble and lay it off for Vidic to bundle home. Danny should have put the game beyond United late on when he shot over when it seemed easier to put his chance in the net. Paul Scholes saw red on 90 minues when he handled a cross into the net quite blatantly, which will see him suspended from his next Champions League match. Zenit saw out the remaining few minutes to become the first Russian team to win the competition, and it's hard to argue that it wasn't deserved.


Andy Townsend said at half time that Man Utd didn't seem to be trying to hard, but I think he was being kind to them. There was no cohesion to the side, but it appeared to me that was down to poor form rather than not putting 100% into the game. There appeared to be plenty of endeavour without much reward. United did step up the pace after Zenit's secon, but it's always difficult to tell if that's because they had more in the tank, or because Zenit were holding back to protect their lead.

So is the competition worth it? United may see it as a worthwhile excercise to put off a league game until later in the season when they're not firing on all cylinders. I doubt the "big" European teams are that bothered with it, unless they actually win it. For Zenit, it's a chance to prove themselves against one of the top sides in Europe. Ultimately the winning club will probably view the match as more worthwhile, but most people can see it's worth, mainly as an advert for UEFA and a chance for some corporate hob-knobbing, as if more was needed in the modern game.

Manchester United still have much work to do if they are to retain their league and European titles; Zenit showed on tonight's performance that they should be a force to be reckoned with in this season's Champion's League.

Obligatory piece about the Champions League draw

Group A
CHELSEA
Roma
Bordeaux
CFR Cluj

Group B
Inter Milan
Werder Bremen
Panathinaikos
Anorthosis Famagusta

Group C
Barcelona
Sporting Lisbon
Basel
Shakhtar Donetsk

Group D
LIVERPOOL
PSV Eindhoven
Marseille
Atletico Madrid

Group E
MAN UTD
Villarreal
CELTIC
Aalborg

Group F
Lyon
Bayern Munich
Steaua Bucharest
Fiorentina

Group G
ARSENAL
Porto
Fenerbahce
Dynamo Kiev

Group H
Real Madrid
Juventus
Zenit St Petersburg
Bate Borisov

I didn't actually watch the draw yesterday, as I was half-watching Man City labouring away in Denmark. I did switch over at the end of normal time, and was amazed to find they'd only managed to get to drawing the seeded teams in each group, almost half an hour after they started. I know the Champions League has a high opinion of itself, but drawing this fairly simple draw out over the space of almost an hour is taking the piss slightly.

Nothing really strikes me as an exciting draw. Sure, you've got a couple of big teams drawn together in the same group, but the sheer repetitiveness of the format of the competition has rendered these once exciting draws fairly dull. It's possible to look over the draw and with fairly great certainty pick out who definitely will qualify, who should qualify, and the teams that might cause an upset. Just look at the teams in the competition - it's the same old, same old ones again and again, with just a few new faces each season to be the whipping boys for a lucky group.

The increasing numbers of teams from the same country means the draw doesn't really get interesting until the quarter final stage, and even then most of the teams will have played each other in the last few seasons. Match nights are drawn out to two a week these days, and from next season they will be drawn out to four match nights per round, with two one week and two the following week, to ensure that UEFA get more precious TV money by not having two teams from a country playing on the same night to maximise TV audiences, and more importantly advertising revenue.

Next season, once the Champions League starts with the third round of qualifiers in August, that'll be it pretty much non-stop hyping itself until the end of the first group stage in December. I wonder how that will affect domestic competitions like the English League Cup, which looks like it will now have to be staggered over two weeks due to the Champions League teams competeting over a two week period, removing it's natural slot in the English character. If I'm bored of the Champion's League now, how am I going to feel next season when it's elongated even further?