United vs Arsenal was reasonably well poised from the first leg, mainly due to Manuel Almunia's heroics at Old Trafford. There was always a possibility that Arsenal's young guns could appear in the mood to play that fantastic free-flowing football which from time to time we've seen this year.
Tellingly for the rest of the European game, and especially Barca and Chelsea, Sir Alex Ferguson completely read the way in which Arsenal would line up and deployed the phenomenon that is Cristiano Ronaldo straight down the middle to terrorise Kolo Toure and Johan Djorou, allowing Wayne Rooney to roam and thread the through balls. Immediately setting about the home team with powerful and pacy thrusts, United put Arsenal's youngsters on the back foot before they'd even begun to get even the remotest attacking idea. Two goals in the space of 3 minutes knocked the stuffing out of Arsenal, with even Wenger's face being resigned to defeat as he held his head in his hands.
11 minutes in and game, set, match Ferguson. Garry Kasparov would have been proud. Sizing up your opponents strengths and turning them into weaknesses is a mark of a tactical master, something Ferguson has never been appreciated for, as was alluded to in commentary last night. Realising the youthful exuberance of Arsenal was also a weakness was simple, working out the tactics to exploit it more of a masterstroke. As he approaches retirement, is there a chance that he's getting even better?
I'm sure Guus Hiddink would certainly have applauded Ferguson's tactics, particularly in light of Chelsea's suffocation of Barcelona at the Camp Nou. The Chelsea boss realised that allowing Barcelona's one touch maestros to "wall pass" their way through the middle of the park would have resulted in carnage - with Iniesta, Henry, Messi and Eto'o getting through at the (fairly)ponderous Chelsea centre halves. Instead Hiddink played an athletic and powerful formation through the centre, which forced Barca to go wide and play crosses in to the aerial strength of Essien, Ballack, Terry and Alex.
Tonight's second leg was 2 minutes away from being ultimate confirmation of Hiddink's managerial nous, with Chelsea restricting the best footballing side in Europe (apologies United) to pot shots and not one test of Petr Cech in 92 minutes. With a far more positive outlook in the home leg, Chelsea can feel particularly hard done to, as they could have been awarded 3 or 4 penalties, and seen Barca out of sight in the rear-view mirror if Drogba had his finishing boots on.
The same team, this time deployed to negate the threat of Alves and Messi worked entirely. Hiddink has even managed to make Florent Malouda look like a hardworking midfielder, rather than the winger-lite he had become under the last 2 managers. Essien looks like he's one of the best players on the planet, Drogba bullied the centre halves like the player of old, and Terry and Alex looked totally comfortable in such a way that Carvalho didn't appear to be missed.
It's a real shame that Hiddink and Ferguson won't come face to face in the final, although Pep Guardiola will really have learned a lesson from Hiddink - being able to adapt your team's tactics to the opposition is a talent that sometimes even Arsene Wenger struggles with. Having more than plan A is a neccessity, and Ferguson will have realised that Barca currently don't appear to have plan B. Their first shot on target flew past Cech, breaking Chelsea hearts in a game they will feel should have been theirs.
The Champions League final should be an technically impressive game, particularly if Barca allow United time to construct from deep. And a large pitch in Rome should suit both teams, so a fairly open game could be on the cards. The decisive factors may be the fact that Barca will be missing 2 speedy fullbacks through suspension, and that Rooney managed to avoid the same. United's power and pace around the Barca defensive third should prove too much. Prediction time, which in this blog is an inconsistent art, I say 2-1 United.
No comments:
Post a Comment