Rub[berba]nd Banks

Today there's a bit of a split in the match reports. On one side, there's those who watched the match and report on it, on the other, there's those who watched the match and then write about the preconceptions they had in their head.

Firmly in the latter camp sits Ian Ladyman, whose report in The Mail begins thus:

Top of the Premier League and already on course for Champions League qualification. So why is it that something doesn't feel quite right about Manchester United this season?

If you'll excuse me while I yawn ... [yawn] ... here's some other snippets:

Wolfsburg took the lead early in the second half and had a number of other chances. Ferguson will recognise that and it may just make him a little uncomfortable. ...
the fact is that United really would not expect to make hard work of opponents like this. Wolfsburg are a game and adventurous side, capable of scoring goals. But they are somewhat short of the standard of the really top European sides.

So if we'd won at a canter this match report would have been much the same, but he'd have said something about the quality of the opposition and "stiffer tests ahead." Wolfsburg played well and caused us a few problems. They are German champions. Why there's this desire to belittle them, who knows. In a game of football, we created quite a few chances, the opposition had a few chances, we won. It made for an entertaining match, not an uncomfortable one necessarily.
In contrast, here's Henry Winter in The Telegraph:

Keeping their nerve and the ball, the English champions showed their European experience to motor past the tidy VW works team with a deflected free-kick from Ryan Giggs, his 150th United goal, and a splendid strike from Michael Carrick. As victory and top spot of Group B was confirmed, United fans also delighted in a string of strong displays, underlining their collectivity on a night when Cristiano Ronaldo again paraded his potency for Real Madrid.

As well as spreading the goals around, United share the work around. Wayne Rooney remains their guiding light, their main threat but others in that famous red contribute handsomely. Last night Giggs was Giggs, Old Faithful with the zest of a teenager and a graceful advertisement for the anti-ageing properties of yoga. He certainly ties opponents in knots.

Carrick, finally demonstrating his true class this season, excelled between the boxes, destroying and creating in equal measure, taking his goal with a technique and confidence that must surely have impressed the watching England manager, Fabio Capello.

Constantly pushing forward, Carrick had almost scored when released by an eye-of-the-needle pass from Dimitar Berbatov, who seemed particularly fired up. The Bulgarian dispensed with his usual air of languidity for the evening, swapping his dinner jacket for overalls, getting stuck into tackles and holding off markers, really enjoying the physical fray.

Berbatov often combined with Antonio Valencia, who at last appeared to have thrown off the cloak of caution he has worn since arriving from Wigan Athletic in the summer. The Ecuadorean impressed, frequently running at and beyond Wolfsburg’s left-back, Marcel Schäfer, and almost scoring when released by one of Berbatov’s many back-heels.

Old Trafford really warmed to Valencia last night while the sight of Owen Hargreaves running down the steps of the directors’ box, moving freely after his knee operation, similarly buoyed United spirits.

Same game? He points out that our defence, especially Vidic, was uncomfortable at times, fair comment, but the overall tone is positive. I'll just add his description of the 2nd goal here:

The England attacker whipped in a cross which Berbatov controlled expertly, despite the speed it came at him, despite the attentions of Wolfsburg defenders. The Bulgarian rolled the ball back to Giggs, who eventually touched it to Carrick 20 yards out.

Yes, Berbatov did brilliantly for it. Berbatov is one of those players who is unfairly criticised for, well, pretty much everything, so it's nice to see him praised (note the Manchester Evening News' poll on Man of the match has Berba leading, with 67% as I write this). And yet, let's look elsewhere. Daniel Taylor's analysis of the match on The Guardian blog makes one mention of Berba:

As for Dimitar Berbatov, he could be forgiven for wondering where exactly he fits into Ferguson's plans on nights such as this. There were six occasions last season when he was left out of the team in the Champions League, including the final and both legs of the semi-final, and that pattern has continued this season, the Bulgarian not starting either of United's two ties. These are not statistics to soothe his confidence.

Giggs is the opposite of Berba - everything he does is praised by the papers - Here's Oliver Kay's description of the goal in The Times:

The home crowd demanded a response and, as so often these days, in the twilight of his career, it came, within three minutes, from Giggs. It was not one of his classics — he called it a “poor” free kick — but his shot deflected off Gentner and ended up in the net at the Stretford End.

Giggs was entitled to think that he should have had a second goal soon afterwards, the officials erring again in flagging him offside after he received the ball from a Wolfsburg player, but ultimately it mattered not. After receiving the ball from Berbatov, who seemed to have taken a split-second too long, Giggs prodded a pass in the direction of Carrick, who stepped forward and curled an excellent shot past Diego Benaglio

Ah yes, that masterful control from Berba was actually him dallying too long on the ball, thank god for Giggs... But at least he manages to mention that Berba was involved, here's The Mirror's take on the goal where he's airbrushed from history:

Giggs has been United's player of the season thus far and is showing no signs of falling below the standard required at the world's biggest club, despite celebrating his 36th birthday next month.

He was the provider for Michael Carrick's 78th-minute winner last night and it is a measure of his enduring influence that Giggs has been the architect of seven of United's eight goals in his last three games ...

And when Carrick applied an assured finish to Giggs' precise lay-off to score with 12 minutes left, victory was United's.

But the night belonged to Giggs, the old relic who is not ready to take his place in the Old Trafford museum just yet.

Pretty amazing that Giggs... That second goal, didn't involve Rooney or Berba, just Giggs...
Redressing the balance, Mark Ogden has an article praising Berba for his performance, but even this is a little misleading - If I had a penny for every article over the last year I've read that said that this or that was Berba's defining performance, or that he'd finally shown what he could do, I'd have several pennies...

Old Trafford demands big personalities and Berbatov has been less scene stealer, more shrinking violet.

Until Wednesday night. Whether the penny has finally dropped that it takes more than languid passes to succeed at United, or whether Owen’s selection genuinely stung, Berbatov performed like a man possessed.

He was almost outdoing Rooney for passion and purpose as he energised United and his control to set up United’s second goal was a reminder of his potential.

Berbatov’s part in the second United goal was equally impressive, as he brought the ball under control to lay off to Giggs, who in turn set up Michael Carrick’s strike.

So yes, he was good last night, but he's had good performance consistently since he signed. Although, these have been "too brief" apparently. Ah yes, I remember how everyone said that Ryan Giggs has been doing OK recently but that first half against Man City he was dreadful, anonymous against Burnley, and a lucky deflected goal last night: when will he live up to his potential, except briefly... (and this is no criticism of Giggs (how many times do I say this...) but a criticism of the fawning over one of our players at the expense of others who also deserve praise)
A quick nod to The Daily Star for most impressive pun of the day:

Michael Carrick hit a superb winner to rescue them after it looked like the writing was on the wall.
It could not have been any other way with a man called Grafite in the opposition line-up.

Onto the quotes, starting with Sir Alex on why Foster was left out:

"Kuszczak had a very good performance last week against Wolves [in the Carling Cup] and we thought he deserved another game," Ferguson explained. "It wasn't going to be last Saturday [at Stoke City] because we felt we must give support to Ben after he had a difficult game against Manchester City. This was a good opportunity to play Kuszczak but Ben will play on Saturday."

On Owen's injury:

"Michael felt a slight groin injury after training on Sunday," revealed Ferguson.

"He thought he was fine to play but on a wet surface, when he tried to turn quickly, it came back again.

"It is not a serious one and I am not worried because players do get them, but he will be out for two to three weeks.

"The only good part is that his fitness levels are very good."

On Carrick:

"It doesn't do any harm scoring a goal - that applies to all the players," said the United manager. "He really did enjoy himself, and him and Anderson did play particularly well for us.

"I think he's been a bit of a slow starter since coming to us and it's normally around October that he gets into his stride. We're seeing that now."

On Giggs and the game as a whole:

"Ryan is unbelievable. All the superlatives and praise he's had over the years, I don't know what to add, he's been absolutely marvellous.

"Their goal was a surprise, but that's football. I thought it was just a matter of time before we would score. We got a bit fortuitous with the deflection, but the performance deserved it and I thought our performance was very good.

"One thing this team has they never give in, they always play on. No matter what the score is, they never stop playing and that gets its rewards.

Giggs on his goal:

"I'll be claiming the goal, even though it took a big deflection and was a poor free-kick. I didn't know it was 150 goals. I'm proud to get that, but it was more important to get back into the game after they scored.

"Players go through periods of good form and I'm making a few goals at the moment. Hopefully that will continue."

The Mirror report on some young kid we're apparently "battling" Liverpool to sign:

French left winger Griezmann, 18, has been watched by both Premier League clubs and Real Sociedad are trying to sign him up on a long term professional deal.

And finally, I don't normally see (or really want to see) Harry Redknapp's Sun column, but today's is well worth reading, on Tevez:

Carlos Tevez on Monday night. He scores against his old club West Ham and then says he refused to celebrate because of his love for the club and its supporters.

What a load of old tosh.

Tevez was at West Ham for a year, he hardly played a game until the end of that one season, after which he quickly moved off to Manchester United.

I couldn't for the life of me see why he didn't want to punch the air in recognition of a goal. Why shouldn't he?

Inside he must have been delighted.

If you don't want to score goals, don't play football. It's incredible.

Alan Pardew didn't fancy him and Alan Curbishley only brought Tevez out of mothballs at Upton Park with about 10 games to go because the club was in danger of relegation.

Now he's some sort of folk hero in the East End and he says some part of him will 'always be a Hammer'. Rubbish.

Tevez has not exactly got claret and blue blood flowing through his veins.

Yet Frank Lampard - who did nothing wrong except join the club at 12 years old, score goals and then get sold for £11million to make the club a vast profit - gets slaughtered.

It's all topsy turvy to me.

I remember Rio Ferdinand returned to West Ham with Leeds and scored against his old club at Upton Park.

He did not celebrate - but then I signed Rio for West Ham when he was 14.

Maybe he thinks some part of him will always be a Hammer and at least he has a right to.

But Tevez? Do me a favour.

Brilliant.