Manchester United vs FC Porto

United gave away possession at will and displayed the sort of alarming defensive vulnerability that was first exposed in the home defeat against Liverpool.

Throw in a disjointed midfield and an attacking effort that relied almost solely on the inspirational Rooney, and all the ingredients were in place for the visitors to produce a shock.

Porto, in contrast, were sharp on the ball and bright in attack - encouraged by the inability of their opponents to apply any concerted pressure on their defence.

United were able to recall Rooney and Nemanja Vidic after their domestic suspensions - but Rio Ferdinand was still absent with a groin injury.

Slack at the back, careless in possession and lacking any spark of invention, their only comfort was that they reached the interval on level terms after being outplayed and outsmarted by Porto.
BBC Website

Extract from the report on BBC Website, just abouts sums it all up. :confused:
 
I take it back Evra cost us that goal...him being out of position made the other 3 defenders move out of position. Wtf

He was also responsible for losing Agbonlahor for Villa's second goal, but since he's a Caf favorite everyone automatically assumes it was Gary Neville's fault.

He has been fairly poor since returning from injury.
 
Time to remove our tinted glasses then. Evra used to go out of position many times, especially when we a re attacking. And Vidic usually gets exposed when the other team counter attack.
 
Defence as a whole was shocking and the goals weren't just down to an individual...so lets n0t start looking for a scape goat.

The biggest problem with defence was that they stand off players, giving so them so much room and more importantly time to shoot annd pass. Due to low confidence, players don't want to be giving away penalties or free kicks, so they are standing off players.

It's clear that Evra was out of possition alot last night, but that is really something the defence needs to cope with (because he can be a big asset in Attack.) For me Evans was a big let down, he was lost and clearly low on confidence. He was quick to pass the ball to the closest person, often getting them in trouble, he just didn't know what to do with the ball when he got it, maybe the pressure of the occassion got to him. Vidic was alright, but was having to cover for Evans on occassion, making his job even harder. O'shea worked hard and did ok along with Neville (considering he only got 20mins).

The problem is the lack of comunication in defence and the fact that they aren't working together. Its all abit of a mess! I mean to conceed a 2nd goal when they hadn't really done anything all half was ludacris!
 
will need a massive improvement to get a win at porto ..
cant believe we got ourselves into this position .. 2 away goals conceded and letting one in after scoring to take the lead so late in the game ..

i dont expect us to lose any game , just hope the 2 away goals dont cost us
 
SAF has to earn his corn as it seems nearly every player except rooney has totally lost form/confidence. The worrying part this is that the more experienced members of the squad have also been infected by this virus at a time when we'd hope their experience would pull the younger players through.

Wish to f*ck that win the lot tripe never got rolling, as the player started to looks as if all they had to do was turn up and collect the points. IMO the team has only really performed as a unit in the inter away game, and its the defence that has kept us in the running up until this point. Now the defence has gone to shit, the none performing midfield and attack is more apparent.

SAF needs to get to work at carrington to lift their spirits and remind them of who and what they are; current world, european & EPl champions.
The difference between the top teams is usually confidence, and when we have it we can outplay anybody and so SAF needs to instill this belief once again.
Where is Mr T when you needs him :devil: