Manchester United succumbed to defeat in Switzerland and went crashing out of the Champions League group stages becoming the first team to go out in the group stages after a Champions League Final the previous season. The loss has only increased the pressure on United after a slew of boring 1-0 wins in the domestic league.
Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young look bored and devoid of any creativity or drive, Nani is trying to be the superhero and is reverting back to the selfish play we saw years ago, the problems are endless. Sir Alex is in a sticky situation though as dropping these players would probably lead to the results getting even worse. Young has failed to impress since coming back from injury and hasn't registered an assist or goal in a United shirt since the home leg against the same Basel team over two months ago. Wayne Rooney isn't much better, having not made an offensive contribution since the away game at minnow Galati. Nani's stats are a lot better, having registered one goal and two assists since that same Galati game. But it's still not what we have come to expect as United fans from a player as talented as Nani.
Perhaps the most embarrassing thing about this loss is who SAF chose to start in central midfield behind Phil Jones. Ryan Giggs and workhorse Ji Sung Park conspired to produce one of the worst United midfield performances of all time. Giggs continually tried to thread the needle and play the Hollywood ball, he managed to create six chances which is decent but his incessant rushing of the play hurt United overall. Patience is needed in an away tie like this one where Basel were content putting ten men behind the ball and playing on the counter. Park was deployed a bit further forward than Giggs behind Rooney and looked just as clueless. The only notable thing he did all night was fall in the Basel penalty area and get all muddy. Jones takes less of the blame considering he did his job sweeping up in front of the back four well and was the biggest offensive threat from midfield despite being the deepest of the three.
The defense was solid and didn't deserve to concede two goals in all honesty. The decision by the referee to allow play to continue after a head injury occurred on Nemanja Vidic was questionable but there was no excuse for leaving Streller that open. The second goal was a result of young naive central defender Chris Smalling falling asleep and letting Frei sneak in behind him. He was out of position at right back and never looks convincing there but should have dealt with the cross better than he did.
Vidic was taken off on a stretcher and Sir Alex confirmed today that he will miss the remainder of the season. Which makes getting booted out of the Champions League a blessing in disguise for me, imagine playing against Barcelona or Real Madrid with Johnny Evans at center back? We would have been absolutely slaughtered.
Seriously?
I urge Ferguson to give Smalling and Jones a chance to form a partnership in the center of defense. They're the future and its time for Rio Ferdinand to pass the torch to the new guard. The experience in the big games domestically and in the Europa League will help them immensely and it looks unlikely that we will win either competition at this point with the other Manchester team running away with the league title and also being involved in the Europa League with their incredible squad depth.
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