Just the third round of matches have been completed in the English Premier League in the 2007-08 season and already, Manchester United look ready to relinquish their crown. After their derby match against Manchester City at Old Trafford ended in a 1-0 loss, their main rivals Chelsea opened a five point lead over them, the Blues drawing 1-1 with Liverpool. And thus it completed United’s worst start in fifteen Premier League years, with two points from three matches and no wins, relinquishing at 16th in the table.
Not that they didn’t play well, on the contrary, Manchester United dominated the match over most periods, but somehow managed not to find the back of the net. Nani tested the City goal-keeper early on and then more shots followed from Evra and Vidic, with the latter hitting the crossbar in the second half, but the danger man all through the game was Carlos Tevez. Twice he came agonizingly close to scoring but was denied both the times. First, by Micah Richards and then by sheer bad luck, as he miss-hit two passes from Ryan Giggs.
Talking about Micah Richards who was later declared the player-of-the-match, the Manchester City defender was actually playing out of position as a centre back as he is more used to the full back position. But even against a fearsome opposition and their relentless pursuit of a goal, the 19 year old held his own and thus was able to help his side to their third consecutive win this season. Another remarkable contribution to the win was that by the goal scorer, Geovanni. The Italian was fed by an Elano pass, before his 25 meter strike took a deflection off Njama Vidic and found the back of Van der Sar’s net in the 31st minute.
As mentioned earlier, it was a siege on the City goal in the second half, but somehow ManU just lacked the killer edge. With the likes of Rooney, Saha and Solskajaer sitting out due to injury and Cristiano Ronaldo missing because of that silly red card in the previous match, United just could not break down their opponents’ defense. But again, here one is tempted to question the spending spree of Sir Alex Ferguson. What is Anderson doing in the side, if he is not even on the bench when such important players are missing? Surely he is way better than the substitutes thrown on in the second half. And with the transfer window still open till the end of the month, can’t Ferguson just go out for another striker, low-cost albeit, just in order to have some options in situations like these?
It’s no hidden fact that United need a striker even though they broke the bank to get Carlos Tevez. The Argentine hasn’t been able to find his feet just yet as he is still short on match fitness and his debut match spent getting kicked at Portsmouth didn’t help either. However, it is Wayne Rooney that Sir Alex will miss the most in the next two months as early form suggests that this could be a long hard season for the Red Devils. Even a few first round Champions League matches will be over by the time Rooney is completely fit.
For now, the Premier League champions have been completely caught on the hop and now they are really desperate for a win. Tottenham are up next but even that match is quiet tricky. Manchester City have enjoyed their best start ever and nobody expected Sven Goran Ericsson to take them to the top after three games. Jose Mourinho won’t mind the current situation a wee-bit given that five points or more was the minimum difference between the champions & runners-up in the last two years. As it is, it is very likely that Chelsea will be top of the table in another two weeks with the real competition coming from Liverpool this year, with all the strike force that Benitez has gathered this year in Torres, Babel and Voronin.
For Manchester United though the fight for the EPL title might already be over.
Via: BBC Sports
