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Manchester United’s first Premier League match had been thoughtfully put back to Monday by the powers-that-be so that United could recover from their European exertions. West decided to go with the same players and the same tactics, but he forcefully imposed a defensive attitude on all of the players. Middlesbrough and their manager Steve McClaren had produced several good results at Old Trafford in recent seasons and West indicated that he didn’t want the same to happen this time around.
subs: Solskjaer, Scholes, Fortune, Brown, van der Sar.
Middlesbrough didn’t make things easy for themselves or for new manager Fred West when Parnaby committed two bookable offences in the 9th and 13th minutes and found himself sent of by referee Elleray. Despite holding a one-man advantage United couldn’t achieve anything in the first half. However that changed early in the second half when O’Shea raced down the right and crossed for Saha to head home at the far post for a 1-0 lead after 53 minutes. A similar move down the left in the 65th minute saw Evra cross to the far post and Akinbiyi rose to nod home his first goal for Manchester United. When Schwarzer tripped Saha as he ran into the box after 75 minutes, United were awarded a penalty. West had forgotten to take Evra off penalty duties after his successful conversion in the previous match and, despite his calls from the touchline, the message failed to get through. Evra slammed home the spot-kick to make it 3-0 and the points were in the bag as far as the Old Trafford faithful were concerned. A second three-goal victory wasn’t what Fred West had in mind though.
Manchester United 3-0 Middlesbrough Saha 53, Akinbiyi 65, Evra 76 (pen)
With the European Champions League second leg coming up against Partizan Belgrade, manager West saw the opportunity to give his reserves a run. Announcing that the first-team players were being given the greatest opportunity to rest before the game, he sent out those players that hadn’t started in either of the official matches so far. Although the opposition were the inept Portsmouth side under the control of ‘Twitching’ Harry Redknapp, he still hoped that Pompey might do him a favour and inflict the first United defeat of the season on his ‘reserve’ team.
Portsmouth set about attacking the youngsters of Manchester United with Taylor hitting the post in the 2nd minute and Olisadebe heading against the crossbar in the 11th minute. In goal Steele started to finally get over his nerves and two fine saves from Benjani and Griffin were made. However when Griffin stormed past Eckersley on the left and drove a low ball across the box, Steele was powerless to stop Taylor blasting Portsmouth into a 19th minute lead. Instead of cracking the second-eleven responded as Giggs raced down the left and crossed for Gray to trap the ball, slip past Pamarot and lash a shot home from fifteen yards to make it 1-1 in the 24th minute. There was some good news for West though when Ronaldo went down injured and was stretchered off a few minutes later. The break saw the teams still tied at one goal apiece. Into the second half and the youngsters started to fade as Portsmouth took charge. Steele was still unbeatable in goal though as Benjani particularly found out on two occasions. Olisadebe was also finding it difficult to shake off Pique who was also growing in stature. Solskjaer had a chance to win it late for United, but his header went into the side netting in the 88th minute. In the end 1-1 probably was a good result for Manchester United, but West was silently cursing his second string team.
Portsmouth 1-1 Manchester United Taylor 19 – Gray 24
League Placing: 3rd
Cristiano Ronaldo had broken his toe in the match against Portsmouth and would miss the next three weeks. However West tried to make the best of what hadn’t been a great day for him personally by choosing to highlight the scoring debut of the Scottish U-21 international David Gray. West stated that Gray was a player of high promise and that the Manchester United fans would get to see a lot more of the youngster in the first team over the coming months.
Having announced that he was saving the team for the European Champions League qualifying match, West was then obliged to select his current first eleven against Partizan Belgrade. Holding a 3-0 lead from the first leg, it was highly unlikely that the team would throw away the lead. However if the Serbs could score early, then Manchester United’s managerially-imposed defensive frame of mind might allow the opposition further into the tie.
subs: Solskjaer, Scholes, Giggs, Gibson, Fortune, Neville, van der Sar.
United’s ultra-defensive outlook meant that attacking chances were limited for the English side, but it also meant that Partizan were unable to forge any chances either. The only shot on goal for the either side came in the 27th minute when a low skidding shot from Saha was tipped away for a corner by the home side’s keeper. The 0-0 half-time score was broken in the 53rd minute when Richardson latched onto a headed clearance, skipped around an approaching defender and lashed a right-footer home from the edge of the area to put United 1-0 in front. Heinze then had his header cleared off the line four minutes later before Partizan fashioned their only shot on goal in the 66th minute when Petrovic sent in a low shot which Howard dived well to his left to hold. With a four-goal lead established, West broke with his normal habit of not using substitutes by sending Solskjaer, Scholes and Giggs on for the final fifteen minutes. That ensured that the veterans would not complain about their lack of game time for a few more matches anyway.
Partizan Belgrade 0-1 Manchester United Richardson 53
26.08.2005
Having reached the group stages of the European Champions League, Manchester United was then drawn in Group C alongside Bayern Munich, Celtic and Lyon. Manager Fred West announced that “the Champions League will be a major priority for the club in the upcoming months and I expect that the team will be challenging for the trophy come the end of the season”. He, along with chief conspirator Sean Manc, was hoping for a double-edged sword to be fashioned from the remarks; what with hopefully poor league form being masked by a confident run in Europe which would keep the fans off the manager’s back.
The third league match of the season saw Fred West taking Manchester United to play bottom-placed Everton at Goodison Park. Everton had lost both their matches – 5-1 to West Ham and 1-0 to Bolton – and a poor showing by the Red Devils would surely start a decline in their confidence which the manager would then build on to start the season unravelling for good. Now, if Everton would just play ball and do the right thing by attacking United and scoring against them – something that no team had managed so far this season – the first of the poor results might well be obtained.
subs: Solskjaer, Scholes, Giggs, Neville, van der Sar.
It was Everton’s Cahill who opened proceedings with a header that clipped Howard’s post in the 4th minute, but the Toffees did better in the 16th minute thanks to United old boy Phil Neville. The former Old Trafford utility man skipped past O’Shea’s tackle before crossing to the edge of the box where Davies picked up the ball. A superb shimmy from the Welshman took him past Evra and Richardson before he nutmegged Akinbiyi and then hammered a low shot past Howard to put Everton 1-0 in front and become the first man to score against the Manchester United side this season. West urged caution from the United players – obviously hoping not to spoil Everton’s lead – but Fletcher and O’Shea had other ideas. Fletcher’s long ball to the far post in the 22nd minute found O’Shea who powered a header goalwards. Martyn dived well to parry it, but O’Shea followed up to smash home the rebound and make the score 1-1. Everton backed off at this point and Richardson, Saha and Brown all had chances to send United into the half-time break with the lead. The second half was a boring affair as West’s persistent coaching from the sidelines kept United’s attacking to a minimum whilst Everton’s Moyes did likewise with his players, fearing that he was being suckered into a trap. Only one clear chance came in the second period and both managers were upset that it failed to be converted. Everton’s left-back Valente broke free on the wing in the 87th minute and picked out an unmarked Beattie with a precise cross, but the striker headed against the crossbar and over. The final scoreline of 1-1 meant that Manchester United were still unbeaten in the league after thee matches, but they had now slipped down to ninth place on the Premier League table.
Everton 1-1 Manchester United Davies 16 – O’Shea 22
The weekend internationals saw many of Manchester United’s players in action, both at senior as well as U-21 level. Saha, Silvestre and Evra played in France’s 1-0 win over Italy with Saha getting the only goal, Solskjaer scored in Norway’s 4-3 loss in Bulgaria, Giggs captained Wales to a 1-1 draw in Northern Ireland and Fletcher played in Scotland’s 1-0 home loss to Hungary. However it was Rooney and van Nistelrooy who made the news as they belied their reserve team status at Old Trafford by turning out for England and Holland respectively. Both players found the net as well with Rooney scoring England’s equaliser in a 1-1 draw in Germany whilst van Nistelrooy hit two goals in Holland’s 3-3 home draw with Sweden.
05.09.2005
When the players returned to training with Manchester United on Monday, the first of the clashes with new manager Fred West occurred. “Hey boss, did you see my goal for England?” asked Rooney of West when he arrived for training. “I don’t need any of your lip, lard boy”, snarled back West. “That’s unprofessional behaviour and I’m fining you two week’s wages for that outburst”. Rooney tried to complain, but West dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “Now get off to training with the reserve squad before I fine you again”, he said.
Whilst Rooney was still smarting and letting anyone who would listen know what he thought of the unlikelihood that West’s parents were ever married, van Nistelrooy was more straightforward. “I demand that you put me in the first team after my performances for Holland”, he ordered West. “Pïss off, horse-face, you’ll get nothing from me”, replied West. “You’re trying to force me out”, said the Dutchmen. “Well, you’re on the transfer list, so I’d say that you’re pretty correct with that assumption. Anyway, I’m not taking that shït from you, so there’s a fine of two week’s wages for your unprofessional behaviour as well. Now go and sulk over with Rooney and the reserve team squad”.
As training got underway Fred West reflected that perhaps this was the way to go forward – by causing unrest in the first team squad with a series of morale-sapping run-ins with several of his disgruntled players.
In fact, he told Sean Manc that it was one of his favoured strategies when the two meet for a review of the first month’s matches before the Premier League resumed after the international break. “Well, whatever your strategies are, they better starting showing some results soon. I don’t call an unbeaten run of three wins and two draws from five matches the sort of form that will go about bringing this club to its knees”. West was defensive. “I’m trying to be a bit subtle about this”, he replied. “If I just dropped all the seniors and played the reserves every match, then people would twig what was going on and force a change. The way I’m doing things, I’m hoping that people will think it’s just my eccentric selection methods. Things will start to fall away soon and before you know it the downward spiral will have started”.
A home game against champions Chelsea was a match that was certainly losable if West could get his team into a negative frame of mind. Already there were rumblings of discontent after the fining of Rooney and van Nistelrooy with several players rumoured to be upset at the treatment of the two strikers.
subs: Gray, Scholes, Ronaldo, Neville, van der Sar.
Chelsea weren’t prepared to give too much away at the start of the match. Their manager Mourinho seemed not to have noticed that United had been playing a 5-3-2 defensive formation for the entire season so far as he employed a similar tactic for his London-based side. The result was a turgid opening thirty minutes which saw only one shot from either team, that being Cole’s long range effort after 16 minutes. With West screaming at United to play cautiously, Chelsea finally started to venture forward. Howard was at full stretch to turn away a Lampard volley after 31 minutes whilst Evra had to head off the line from Cole’s shot after 42 minutes, but the game remained locked at 0-0 until the break. Crespo headed against the post after 53 minutes and then nodded an effort just wide five minutes later as Chelsea looked to break open the match. United finally had their first shot in the 61st minute as Silvestre hit a free-kick straight into the arms of Cech. That was it as far as the home team was concerned and they failed to strike at goal again in the match. In fact only wayward shooting from substitutes Drogba and Robben in the final ten minutes stopped Chelsea from taking all three points from the game. As it was, a 0-0 draw was the final result with only Fletcher and Richardson showing any sort of form for the home team.
The first of Manchester United’s matches in the Champions League was a trip to France to face the local champions Lyon. Despite previous discussions with Sean Manc, manager Fred West decided that a loss might be better than a win as the team still had to be defeated during the season and a victory in Europe might perk up the team’s morale for the upcoming Premier League matches. As a result he left out the two best performing players so far – Fletcher and Richardson – and selected Cristiano Ronaldo and Fortune in the two advanced midfield roles instead.
subs: Gray, Scholes, Fletcher, Richardson, Giggs, Neville, van der Sar.
Things didn’t start well for United when Lyon scored from their first two serious attacks. After a slow start Juninho Pernambucano sent an incisive ball into the feet of Wiltord in the 14th minute just inside the area. Akinbiyi was back defending and he got a tackle in, but the ball broke free and Cris drove home the rebound from close range. From the next attack in the 21st minute Pedretti found Carew who headed goalwards, but Howard managed to tip it around the post for a corner. Juninho Pernambucano whipped it in from the right wing and Malouda powered home a header for a 2-0 lead to Lyon. So much for United’s mass defending. As for attacking, the Red Devils opportunities were non-existent as they failed to get a shot on goal in the first half. Meantime Lyon had further chances as Govou, Muller and Carew all went close to extending the 2-0 lead. The second half saw Lyon continue to batter the United goal and only some good keeping from Howard and some poor finishing by Carew, Tiago and Cris in particular denied the home side a bigger victory. As for Manchester United, O’Shea’s tame shot in the 59th minute was the only time that they threatened Coupet’s goal. A lame 2-0 defeat was the final result, but back in England a furore was starting to brew over West’s lack of results in his reign so far.
For the trip to Upton Park to play West Ham, West decided to enact even further ‘tinkering’ with his first eleven. Fletcher and Richardson were not recalled due to their good form whilst O’Shea had also been performing well in defence, so he was benched in favour of Neville. Up front, Saha had actually played shockingly against Lyon and was legitimately dropped from the team. However his replacement was not Rooney or van Nistelrooy or even Solskjaer. Instead West took the chance to praise the Scottish U-21 international David Gray and bring him into the team after his goalscoring debut against Portsmouth four weeks earlier. Of course there was no question that ‘star signing’ Akinbiyi would be dropped from the team.
subs: Saha, Richardson, Fletcher, O’Shea, van der Sar.
Old boy Sheringham made the opening goal of the match for his new team West Ham after 5 minutes when he beat Neville and drilled a shot at Howard’s goal. The American keeper blocked it with his legs, but Mullins was standing unmarked and was able to smack home the rebound for a 1-0 lead. Anton Ferdinand showed his older brother how to shoot when he crashed a shot against the crossbar after 16 minutes, but United came back to equalise when Fortune crossed for Ronaldo to volley home from close range in the 22nd minute. Neville was injured in the build-up to the goal, so O’Shea returned to the field anyway. The Hammers nearly regained the lead twice as the first half wound down, first through Stuart’s 33rd minute header and then through Konchesky’s 42nd minute long-range shot. However it was Rio Ferdinand who found the net in injury-time to give Manchester United a 2-1 lead when he sliced his attempted cross into the top corner of Carroll’s net for a fluke goal. West faced a dilemma at half-time – did he change the team’s defensive stance so that West Ham might equalise, but at the same time risk that his team might snatch a third goal if let loose? In the end he decided to leave things as they were. West Ham did their best by charging into attack after attack at the start of the second half and both Mullins and Reo-Coker hit the United crossbar with shots. When Silvestre of all people popped up free in the box after 66 minutes it looked like the team would take a winning lead, but the French defender shot straight at keeper Carroll. West was then able to breathe a sigh of relief when West Ham substitute Ashton sent a diving header past Howard after 74 minutes to make it 2-2. Indeed Ashton almost won the match for the Hammers when he fired a low drive goalwards in injury-time, only to see Heinze clear the ball off the line.
West Ham 2-2 Manchester United Mullins 5, Ashton 74 – Ronaldo 22, Ferdinand 45
It was dubbed “The Battle Of Britain”, but for manager Fred West the Manchester United versus Celtic game in the Champions League at Old Trafford was another big chance to drive down the morale of the team he was intent on destroying. Celtic had sensed that something bad was brewing at United and they were determined to cash in on the moment. West sent out an unchanged side from the team that drew 2-2 at West Ham on the previous weekend whilst Akinbiyi and Gray would again lead his “toothless” attack.
subs: Saha, Richardson, Fletcher, Scholes, Giggs, Solskjaer, van der Sar.
Despite Celtic manager Strachan’s claims that he would draw a positive result from Manchester United’s difficult situation, he still sent out the Scottish champions in a 5-3-2 formation similar to that of West’s English team. That allowed United to push forward and create the initial chances. Ronaldo fired wide after 8 minutes whilst Ferdinand headed over from Evra’s cross in the 18th minute. Celtic continued to stay back and put men behind the ball, so United held sway as Ronaldo forced a great save from keeper Marshall after 27 minutes whilst Gray wasted a chance with a wild shot from just inside the box in the 38th minute. What chances there had been were all United’s as the teams went into the break with the score unchanged at 0-0. Nothing of note occurred at the start of the second half until Celtic made a substitution that changed the match in the 64th minute. The introduction of Petrov for Lennon allowed Celtic to step up a gear and the chances started flow for the visitors. Balde headed over from Petrov’s corner after 68 minutes before Petrov sent Beattie clear with a fine pass in the 71st minute and the young striker kept his cool to advance and slot the ball under Howard to make it 1-0. The chances to equalise were all falling to Ronaldo, but he headed over in the 76th minute and then volleyed wide from close range in the 85th minute. West left the same eleven on the pitch yet again as they tired and only Evra’s lunging clearance off the line from Petrov’s shot in the 89th minute stopped the final result from being doubled. As it was though, it was another poor result from Manchester United as they lost 1-0 to Celtic to fall to the bottom of their Champions League group standings.
Manchester United 0-1 Celtic Beattie 71
There was the standard turmoil following Manchester United’s loss to Celtic, along with the usual calls for Fred West to be sacked, then tarred & feathered and sent floating out into the Irish Sea sealed into a leaky barrel. The icing on the cake was ironically provided by the Red Devils former skipper Roy Keane who declared after his new team’s 1-0 win that he was “greatly pleased to be away from the debacle that Malcolm Glazer and Fred West are perpetuating on this once noble club”. The fans that had formerly idolised their firebrand ex-captain totally agreed and West was secretly grinning inside as he watched their protests outside the stadium after the match had finished. Things were starting to implode at Old Trafford.
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