retired_jgirl87

The tactical limitations that Fred West placed on his Manchester United team and the defensive attitude that he had drilled into the players had certainly begun to make its presence known. Sure, United had only conceded seven goals in nine official matches, but they had only scored eleven goals themselves over the same period. However six of those goals had come in the opening pair of 3-0 victories that the club had achieved in West’s first two matches in charge.

Apart from the two goals at West Ham the previous weekend, things had been rather barren up front for Manchester United recently. This Saturday’s match against Bolton didn’t promise to make things any better with the Trotters having a defence that had not conceded a goal in the previous six matches, but with an attack that had only found the net twice over the same period. In fact Fred West was so sure that this was going to be a scoreless draw that he dropped into his local Ladbrokes and put £100 on a 0-0 draw at odds of 5-1.

24.09.2005

v. Bolton (A) Premier League

(5-3-2 Defensive) Howard; O’Shea, Brown, Heinze, Silvestre, Evra; Ronaldo, Ferdinand, Fortune; Akinbiyi, Gray.

subs: Saha, Richardson, Fletcher, Pique, van der Sar.

Fred West must have feared for his £100 when he saw the way that Bolton started the match at the Reebok Stadium. Only a miraculous save by Howard denied Davies and his header opening the scoring in the 6th minute. Davies went close again a few minutes later with another header and then missed an even easier chance in the 23rd minute when he somehow stabbed the rebound from Faye’s blocked header a foot wide of the unprotected Manchester United net from just a few yards out. Speed was then denied by Howard as he palmed away the Welshman’s 25 yard effort that had been bound for the top corner in the 33rd minute whilst referee Uriah Rennie turned down what looked like a valid penalty for Bolton after 40 minutes when Ferdinand bought down Campo in the United penalty area. At half-time the score was still amazingly locked at 0-0 and Bolton keeper Jaaskelainen had not had to deal with a single United shot. The second half began with Ferdinand and Campo both carrying on their personal feud as they followed on from the denied penalty incident late in the first half to continually foul each other, finally prompting the referee to issue them both with yellow cards and a final warning. Up front Akinbiyi and Gray continually fluffed simple passes and failed to cause any danger to the Bolton defence. Mind you, the home side were little better and Howard was having a quiet time as well. However the American number one was on his toes in the 88th minute as he denied Bolton a winner by diving high to his left to keep out a curling free-kick from Okocha. When the game ended Bolton keeper Jaaskelainen walked from the pitch with his jersey just as clean as it had been when the match had started as Manchester United had failed to launch one single shot at his goal throughout the entire ninety minutes.

Bolton 0-0 Manchester United

League Placing: 11th

The next day Fred West returned to his local Ladbrokes to collect the £500 that he had won the previous day. With the Manchester United performances becoming so poor, the odds for a victory in the team’s next match were becoming longer. That next game was against Bayern Munich in the Champions League and West realised that he had the power to bring about a change of fortune for the club in that match. Ladbrokes were offering 6-1 on United winning at Old Trafford, so West rolled all his winnings back into a bet that the team would win their European game. He certainly felt that £3,000 was a much more fitting reward for his gambling risk.

retired_jgirl87

Fred West wasn’t on a huge wage as the manager of Manchester United. Sean Manc may have engineered the situation to give him the role, but he surely wasn’t paying him big bucks to carry it out. Sean had told Fred that relegation was the main target for the season, but a few decent results in the Champions League wouldn’t cause too much of a problem. Now that Fred realised that he had the power to influence the results of Manchester United’s matches by the way in which he picked the team and set the tactics, he was thinking of the means by which he could reap the rewards from betting on the games.

One of those means was to improve the quality of the personnel on the pitch. For the Champions League game against Bayern Munich West decided to bring the experience of Scholes and Giggs into the midfield and restore Saha to the attack. He felt that he wasn’t being too obvious with his ploy and the fans of Manchester United certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Scholes and Giggs in the team, so all he had to really worry about was ensuring that he didn’t get Sean Manc offside with his selections. After all, there were possible winnings of £3,000 riding on the result of the match against the Germans.

28.09.2005

Bayern Munich (H) Champions League Phase 1 Group C

(5-3-2 Defensive) Howard; O’Shea, Brown, Heinze, Silvestre, Evra; Scholes, Ferdinand, Giggs; Akinbiyi, Saha.

subs: Solskjaer, Richardson, Fletcher, Ronaldo, Fortune, Pique, van der Sar.

The match kicked off and Scholes was immediately scurrying all over the pitch and throwing himself into tackles. It only took five minutes for the Dutch referee to take a dislike to yet another lunging tackle – this time on Santa Cruz – before Scholes found himself shown a yellow card. Ze Roberto sent the ensuing free-kick whizzing inches past Howard’s net. When Silvestre and Ferdinand quickly followed Scholes into the referee’s notebook before twenty minutes had been played the manager started to worry about whether his team could keep eleven men on the park. It certainly was a more resolute Manchester United performance than had been seen in recent matches, but the chances still weren’t flowing up front. Indeed, only poor finishing by Ballack after 33 minutes and Karimi after 39 minutes denied Bayern Munich from going into the break with the lead. A crunching Heinze tackle on Lucio in the 54th minute earned United their fourth yellow card and gave Bayern a free-kick twenty-five yards out and directly in front of goal. It was Ballack who took the kick and curled a superb shot around the United wall to put the visitors 1-0 up. West could see his expected winnings disappearing out the door, so he stood on the touchline and urged his players forward. At first the sight of their previously defensive-minded manager waving his arms and signalling his players into attack confused the United players. However once they realised that they were being told to cut loose, they quickly responded. After 67 minutes Akinbiyi nodded on Brown’s pass for Evra to overlap down the left. His precise cross found the feet of Saha and the striker took a steadying touch before lashing a shot past Kahn from the edge of the box to make it 1-1 on the night. The Old Trafford faithful were roused by the sight of a brand of attacking football that they hadn’t witnessed before this season. Evra saw his low shot tipped around the post for a corner in the 75th minute before another Frenchman went one step better. A poor headed clearance by Lahm fell to the feet of Silvestre in the 79th minute and the defender sent an unstoppable half-volley rocketing into the Bayern net to put United 2-1 in front. West called the players back to defend the lead for the final ten minutes and, despite desperate attacking by the visitors, the team hung onto take the victory.

Manchester United 2-1 Bayern Munich
Saha 67, Silvestre 79 – Ballack 54

The morning after Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Bayern Munich Sean Manc paid Fred West a visit at his home. “I hope for your sake what I saw last night was an aberration”, he said. “I want to see this club destroyed and all those wänkers that call themselves supporters utterly devastated. Coming from behind to win 2-1 in a rousing finale based on attacking football doesn’t look like the kind of thing that will see those aims of mine achieved”. Fred knew that he had let his personal greed get in the way and upsetting Sean Manc wasn’t a smart thing to do, so he quickly blurted out an answer. “Don’t worry Sean, its all part of my plan. Over-exuberant attacking will leave us open to being hit on the counter by the opposition. I guarantee you that my tactics will get us the results that you are looking for”.

Sean had left Fred’s house after that, seemingly convinced that Fred was still under his control. Fred himself left soon after and walked down to his local Ladbrokes to pick up his £3,000 in winnings from the previous night. As he stood watching the operator count out the money, he realised that perhaps it would be wiser to hold off on any further betting for the time being.

retired_gabachitalinda

great stuff

retired_jgirl87

Cheers, Welwyn. :thup:

retired_jgirl87

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** *** English Premier Division - Friday 30th September 2005********************************************** ************************************************** **================================================ ================================================== 2005/6 Table============================================= ================================================== ===Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Chelsea 6 3 0 0 6 0 2 1 0 4 2 16 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Aston Villa 6 3 0 0 7 0 2 0 1 3 2 15 3rd Fulham 7 3 1 0 11 1 0 3 0 3 3 13 4th Tottenham 7 4 0 0 13 7 0 1 2 4 8 13 5th Arsenal 6 2 0 0 5 1 1 2 1 6 5 11 6th Liverpool 6 3 1 0 6 0 0 1 1 1 3 11 7th Blackburn 7 2 1 1 7 3 1 1 1 5 7 11 8th Bolton 7 2 2 0 2 0 1 0 2 3 4 11 9th Charlton 6 3 1 0 7 2 0 0 2 4 7 10 10th Birmingham 7 2 1 0 9 4 0 2 2 2 9 9 11th MAN UNITED 6 1 1 0 3 0 0 4 0 4 4 8 12th Portsmouth 7 0 2 1 4 5 2 0 2 7 7 8 13th Man City 7 2 2 0 6 4 0 0 3 1 6 8 14th Newcastle 5 2 0 0 9 4 0 1 2 2 7 7 15th West Ham 6 2 1 0 10 4 0 0 3 0 6 7 16th Middlesbrough 7 2 1 0 10 6 0 0 4 0 9 7 17th Wigan 7 1 1 1 4 4 0 1 3 4 11 5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th W.B.A. 7 1 1 2 6 7 0 0 3 3 10 4 19th Sunderland 6 1 0 2 4 5 0 0 3 1 8 3 20th Everton 7 0 1 2 2 4 0 0 4 4 13 1 </pre>

retired_jgirl87

After the midweek victory over Bayern Munich the Manchester United fans were clamouring for more attacking football. Fred West had decided to take things to the extreme – “If it’s attacking they want, then I’ll give it to the bûggers, so I will”, he said – and he sent out the team for the home match against second-placed Aston Villa in an ultra-attacking 2-4-4 formation. “With four attackers we can afford to play a long ball game, so just hoof it up there”, he told his defenders and midfielders. “And with only two defenders we’ll catch them offside more frequently if we play the offside trap, so I want Silvestre and Heinze to step up quickly as much as possible when Villa are in possession”. O’Shea and Evra kept their places, but they were now wide midfielders with a brief to help out in defence where possible whilst the four-man attack for United consisted of Solskjaer, Akinbiyi, Gray and Ronaldo. Saha was unfit after a slight knock in training, so young Rossi made it onto the substitute’s bench in his place.

01.10.2005

v. Aston Villa (H) Premier League

(2-4-4 Attacking) Howard; Silvestre, Heinze; O’Shea, Ferdinand, Fortune, Evra; Solskjaer, Akinbiyi, Gray, Ronaldo.

subs: Rossi, Richardson, Fletcher, Brown, van der Sar.

Manchester United’s attacking intent caught Aston Villa unprepared at first and it looked as though the goals would soon be flowing. Villa keeper Sorenson had to be at his best to deny Silvestre’s 3rd minute header and he made another fine save to block Ronaldo’s shot after 16 minutes. In the 33rd minute Gray picked up a long ball from Heinze and rifled a shot goalwards. Sorenson could only parry it and Akinbiyi was on hand to tap home the rebound for a 1-0 lead to United. Aston Villa started to come into the match after the goal though and the half ended with Milner, Baros and Berger all shooting wide from good positions to leave United leading 1-0. Aston Villa continued on at the start of the second half from where they left off at the end of the first with Moore scraping the top of the crossbar with a 53rd minute header. The goal had to come for Aston Villa and it was Berger who ran through a deserted central defence to send a low shot past Howard from the edge of the penalty area to make it 1-1 in the 58th minute. It was now a seesawing contest in the next fifteen minutes with Akinbiyi and Ronaldo being denied by Sorenson whilst Howard foiled Moore and Baros when they had great chances. A 73rd minute corner from Milner was nodded down by Mellberg and Baros turned it home from close range to make it 2-1. West urged the Manchester United players forward in search of an equaliser and the inevitable consequences followed. Bouma broke free on a counterattack in the 88th minute and ran two-thirds the length of the pitch to fire a left-footed shot across Howard which clinched a 3-1 victory for the visiting Aston Villa.

Manchester United 1-3 Aston Villa
Akinbiyi 33 – Berger 58, Baros 73, Bouma 88

League Placing: 13th

retired_jgirl87

08.10.2005

The players relished their time away from Old Trafford when the next international break arrived. Ronaldo played in a 0-0 draw for Portugal against Croatia whilst Giggs saw Wales put four past Iceland in a 4-1 away win. There was much cheer for the French trio of Silvestre, Evra and Saha as they played in France’s 3-1 win over Germany with Silvestre and Saha both getting on the scoresheet. Indeed, Saha played with such enthusiasm and skill that he was named man-of-the-match. van Nistelrooy and van der Sar played in Holland’s surprise 4-1 defeat in Greece whilst Solskjaer and Norway were on the wrong end of a 3-1 home defeat to Denmark. Fletcher was a second half substitute for Scotland in their 2-1 home loss to Ireland for whom O’Shea played a full match. Finally Ferdinand and Rooney both played in England’s 1-1 draw away to Italy.

11.10.2005

Fred West left training on the Tuesday afternoon and headed into the car-park to get his Ford Escort. When he got there he found it was boxed in by a sleek Mercedes limousine. The driver was leaning against the front of the car and as he saw Fred approaching he walked back to the rear door and opened it. Inside sat Sean Manc and he had a smile on his face. “Fred, I saw that last game against Aston Villa and I must say that I’m very happy with your way of thinking on your current tactics. All-out attacking combined with almost non-existent defence gives hope to this club’s scumbag supporters before kick-off, but then just guts them even more when the team loses. It’s a nice touch”, he added. “Thanks Sean”, Fred replied, relieved that he was being complemented and not chastised instead. “It’s all balanced on a knife-edge, but I think I’ve got it just right”, boasted Fred in an emboldened mood. “Yes, well just remember that a knife can cut both ways”, warned Sean just before he pulled the door shut in Fred’s face.

15.10.2005

v. West Brom (A) Premier League

(2-4-4 Attacking) Howard; Silvestre, Heinze; O’Shea, Ferdinand, Fortune, Evra; Solskjaer, Akinbiyi, Gray, Ronaldo.

subs: Saha, Richardson, Fletcher, Halford, van der Sar.

A wet and miserable day at The Hawthorns saw the 19th placed West Brom host 13th placed Manchester United. On paper it looked as though United’s attacking power would overwhelm the Baggies, but it was the home team who came out with all guns blazing. Greening fired a free-kick inches over the crossbar after 7 minutes whilst Inamoto fired just wide after 8 minutes. Gera beat Evra before smacking a shot into the post in the 9th minute and then saw another effort tipped around the post after 11 minutes. From the resulting Greening corner Inamoto connected sweetly with a near-post volley and the ball tore past Howard and into the roof of the net to put West Brom 1-0 up. Inamoto’s next contribution was a slide-rule pass that broke the offside trap and sent Kamara through to score after 14 minutes for a 2-0 lead to the home side. Ferdinand and Kamara both then traded efforts that went close for either side before keeper Kirkland had to be on his toes to deny an Akinbiyi header in the 24th minute. The non-stop attacking by either side was certainly thrilling to watch, even if Manchester United’s defensive naivety was contributing to the spectacle. However there was no denying that United were trying to score and Ronaldo got them on the scoresheet in the 26th minute when he drove home Solskjaer’s low cross to pull the score back to 2-1. The goals continued to flow as Watson sent a skidding low shot into the bottom corner from twenty yards after 32 minutes to put West Brom 3-1 in front. Solskjaer thumped a volley against the crossbar after 38 minutes as United looked to get back into the game before half-time, but things took a turn for the worse as Heinze sliced Clement’s low cross past Howard in the 43rd minute for an own goal and a 4-1 lead to West Brom. Fred West bought Halford on for his United debut at the start of the second half as Fortune was substituted during the break. It looked as though United would get a chance to fight back with a one-man superiority for the majority of the second half when Wallwork stupidly sent a wild kick into the body of Gray after a reckless challenge in the 56th minute and was consequently sent off by referee Mike Riley. However West Brom simply pulled everyone back behind the ball to defend their three-goal lead and they managed to curtail most of United’s attacking forays. Solskjaer was twice denied by an on-fire Kirkland whilst the hometown keeper also thwarted both Ronaldo and Ferdinand. Solskjaer eventually beat Kirkland with a fizzing low shot in the 82nd minute to make the score 4-2 and gain some reward for his efforts, but it was not enough and Manchester United suffered a second consecutive Premier League defeat.

West Brom 4-2 Manchester United
Inamoto 11, Kamara 14, Watson 32, Heinze own goal 43 – Ronaldo 26, Solskjaer 82

League Placing: 15th

retired_jgirl87

17.10.2005

Fred West was relaxing at home on Monday afternoon as he’d given the players some time off before their trip to Germany to play Bayern Munich in the Champions League the next day. He had already been to his local Ladbrokes with the £3,000 he’d made in winnings from his two previous bets and this time he was looking to really turn it into a sizable amount. The two Premier League defeats to Aston Villa and West Brom had blown out Manchester United’s chances of achieving a victory over Bayern Munich and he was able to secure odds of 10-1 for a two-goal winning margin for his team. He was already mentally counting out the £30,000 that he would have in his pocket after his upgraded team selections caught the Germans by surprise and sparked an unexpected victory.

As he daydreamed of his winnings the telephone rang. “Fred, it’s Sean here” came the reply to his answer of “Hello”. Fred instantly knew that it wouldn’t be good news for him. “Fred, I don’t want a repeat of that previous match against the Bayern Munich”, ordered Sean. “Heroic victories aren’t the way that I’d like the team to be going at the moment, so ensure that the run of defeats continues”. Fred could suddenly see all his money vanishing into thin air, so he desperately tried to produce an excuse. “Well, I’ll try Sean, but you know how the team lifts itself for a big grudge match against German opposition. I can’t control everything, you know”. There was a lengthy silence on the line and Fred could imagine Sean seething at the other end. “You know my chief ‘facilitator’ Vic, don’t you?” he asked. Fred had not met the man, but he certainly knew of him by his reputation. “Y-yes”, he stumbled in reply as he caught the menace in Sean’s question. “Well, don’t make me have to send him around to pay you a visit”, said Sean just before he hung up the phone. Fred was caught between a rock and a hard place – his bet had been made and was non-refundable, but his master had been clear about what he wanted. Fred didn’t know what to do.


*** *** *** *** ***

In the end Fred’s greed got the better of him and he selected a stronger team for the match against Bayern Munich. O’Shea and Evra went out and Fletcher and Giggs came in to play in the wide midfield positions whilst the more attack-minded Richardson replaced Fortune in the central role alongside Ferdinand. Up front Saha replaced Gray and Fred decided on an insurance policy by selecting Rooney on the bench. If needs be, he would call on the England striker for his first appearance of the season.

18.10.2005

v. Bayern Munich (A) Champions League Phase 1 Group C

(2-4-4 Attacking) Howard; Silvestre, Heinze; Fletcher, Ferdinand, Richardson, Giggs; Solskjaer, Akinbiyi, Saha, Ronaldo.

subs: Rooney, Fortune, O’Shea, Scholes, Evra, Brown, van der Sar.

The inclusion of Giggs and Fletcher on the wings did surprise Bayern Munich and they struggled to wrest the early control from Manchester United. Ronaldo missed a good chance with his weaker left foot after 3 minutes whilst Saha headed over from Solskjaer’s cross after 5 minutes. Richardson bought a smart save from Kahn after 16 minutes and it wasn’t until the 28th minute before Bayern produced their first effort when a volley from Makaay was well held by Howard. In the 39th minute a Ronaldo free-kick was bundled away by Kahn and from the clearance the Germans set up a quick counterattack which was ended by Solskjaer’s push on Lahm. From the resulting free-kick in the 40th minute Lahm picked out Schweinsteiger who had Giggs as his marker and the German midfielder leapt high over his Welsh opponent to head Bayern Munich into a 1-0 lead. The goal was against the run of play, but it merely spurred United into action. After 45 minutes Solskjaer got the better of Lahm and sent a wonderful cross to the far post where Schweinsteiger found himself outjumped by Ronaldo who headed United level at 1-1. The second half started with half-chances to Saha and Santa Cruz before Makaay went even closer with a header that smacked into the post and bounced to safety in the 55th minute. Pizarro then followed suit with a low drive that cracked into the same post after 61 minutes as the Germans threatened to take control of the match. Fred West had Rooney get up and run along the sideline to warm up before he considered bringing him on to search for a goal or two. However his plans were sent in disarray in the 66th minute when Richardson’s late lunging tackle saw him bring Schweinsteiger down for a penalty to Bayern Munich. What’s more, the referee deemed it was a professional foul and sent off Richardson with a flourish of his red card. There was nothing for West to do but bring on a new midfielder and sacrifice one of his four forwards, so Scholes replaced Saha and Rooney took a seat on the bench again. Back on the field of play Ballack drilled the ball high to Howard’s right from the penalty-spot to put Bayern 2-1 up. In the 70th minute things went from bad to worse when Pizarro and Ballack tore the United defence apart and Ballack thumped home a shot from just inside the box to make it 3-1. The German captain Ballack completed his hat-trick just a few minutes later when he skilfully diverted Pizarro’s low shot past Howard to push Bayern Munich into a 4-1 lead. Giggs and Scholes did have late chances to gain some consolation for United, but Kahn and his defence snuffed out their hopes with some quality defending. In the end what had started so brightly for Manchester United had ended up in a 4-1 thrashing by Bayern Munich.

Bayern Munich 4-1 Manchester United
Schweinsteiger 40, Ballack 67 (pen), 70, 76 – Ronaldo 45

On the flight back from Munich to Manchester it was clear to all around him that Fred West had been deeply dismayed by the 4-1 defeat by the Germans. He was obviously taking it hard as he sat in his seat and stared out the window as the plane winged its way back to England. No-one bothered to ask him how he was because he was definitely taking the loss personally. In fact Fred was doing no such thing of the sort – instead he was sorrowfully farewelling the £3,000 that he had lost at Ladbrokes and mourning the non-existence of the £30,000 that never came to be.

retired_jgirl87

Manager Fred West made several changes after the European fixture as Fletcher, Giggs and Saha all dropped out of the team and Halford, Evra and Gray respectively took their places for the next Premier League match against Blackburn. With Manchester United having slumped to 15th place and Blackburn on a good run that had seen them climb to 7th place, form suggested that the visitors had a good chance of picking up all three points on the day.

22.10.2005

v. Blackburn (H) Premier League

(2-4-4 Attacking) Howard; Silvestre, Heinze; Halford, Ferdinand, Richardson, Evra; Solskjaer, Akinbiyi, Gray, Ronaldo.

subs: Saha, Fortune, Fletcher, O’Shea, van der Sar.

Blackburn lined up with man-to-man marking on the four Manchester United attackers, so the early play was fairly quiet as United’s attacking mentality was cancelled out by Rovers’ defensive attitude. Solskjaer had a half-chance which he sent wide of the visitor’s net after 7 minutes whilst Howard did brilliantly to dive and hold a free-kick from Neill after 16 minutes. The deadlock was broken in the 28th minute when Richardson’s intended pass for Gray ricocheted off Khizanishvili and fell invitingly for Akinbiyi to crash home from twelve yards out for a 1-0 lead to United. Further chances were exchanged between Bentley and Solskjaer before Gamst Pedersen produced another quality save from Howard in the 38th minute. As injury-time began Gray made one of his few decent contributions as he laid off Ronaldo’s cross and Solskjaer ran onto the ball to fire a low shot past Friedel to put United 2-0 up at the break. At the half-time interval West was panicked by his side’s two-goal lead. He thought about making wholesale changes to wipe out any attacking flair from his team, but then realised that that would simply make them go defensive and protect their two-goal buffer. Better then to leave things as they were and hope that Blackburn could make some inroads into United’s fragile defence. Bentley, Bellamy and Tugay all fired in long-range efforts in the first ten minutes of the second half, but Howard dealt with them easily. Gradually Blackburn realised that the wings were where United were vulnerable and Emerton and Gamst Pedersen began to see a lot of the ball. However it was the overlapping left-back Gray who made the first goal for the visitors in the 63rd minute when his precise cross picked out Gamst Pedersen at the near post and the Norwegian headed past Howard to bring the score back to 2-1. Ronaldo failed to divert home Gray’s cross in the 66th minute to rest a two-goal lead for United, but the Reid hit the post with a header for Rovers as Howard looked on helplessly two minutes later. In the 78th minute Emerton raced free on the right wing and drove over a knee-high cross which Bellamy expertly volleyed home from twelve yards to make the score 2-2. The two rampaging Blackburn wingers then combined to put their team in front after 83 minutes when Gamst Pedersen’s powerful header was parried by Howard and Emerton raced in to crash home the rebound for a 3-2 lead to Rovers. It was a stunning turnaround for Mark Hughes’ side and Fred West was internally relieved that Manchester United’s run of league defeats had now stretched to four matches.

Manchester United 2-3 Blackburn
Akinbiyi 28, Solskjaer 46 – Gamst Pedersen 63, Bellamy 78, Emerton 83

League Placing: 16th

retired_jgirl87

In the days before the next Champions League match against Lyon the media were calling for the axing of the Scottish U-21 striker David Gray from the Manchester United line-up. Gray had not scored in seven matches since his debut strike against Portsmouth back in August. “Bring back Rooney from his weight-induced exile or make peace with van Nistelrooy” were the calls from the press. “Hell, we’ll even take Saha”, announced one hack who was then quickly removed from duties by his editor.

At the pre-match press conference at Old Trafford on Tuesday – the day before the game – Fred West announced that he was taking the media’s comments on board. He announced his team selection for the following day by confirming that the suspended Richardson would be replaced by Scholes and the cup-tied Halford would be replaced by O’Shea. “Up front David Gray will be taking a rest from starting duties”, West said “and his replacement will be another fine young striker that we have here at our club. Gentlemen, tomorrow Giuseppe Rossi will make his full European debut”.

26.10.2005

v. Lyon (H) Champions League Phase 1 Group C

(2-4-4 Attacking) Howard; Silvestre, Heinze; O’Shea, Ferdinand, Scholes, Evra; Solskjaer, Akinbiyi, Rossi, Ronaldo.

subs: Saha, Fortune, Fletcher, Giggs, Gray, Neville, van der Sar.

Both sides showed the intent to pursue goals as the match began, but of course Manchester United’s frail defence was obvious to see. It was a question of whether United’s eight-man attack could outperform Lyon’s talented defence and survive a goal on the counterattack. Howard was the first keeper in action as he palmed away Carew’s header after 5 minutes and then Coupet was called in action to similarly make a save from Akinbiyi’s 10th minute header. Rossi was causing Lyon’s central defenders Muller and Abidal some discomfort with his darting runs and he set up Evra for a low shot that grazed the outside of the post after 23 minutes. Further half-chances fell to Solskjaer with a 36th minute shot and Scholes with a 39th minute header, but Coupet was able to watch both efforts go just wide of his net. At half-time it was 0-0, but it was Manchester United who had had the better of the first 45 minutes. That fact was underlined in the 47th minute when a strong Solskjaer run was only halted by a desperate Malouda tackle, but the loose ball fell kindly for Scholes and he cracked it home from just inside the box for a 1-0 lead. Straight from the kick-off Ferdinand threw himself into a 50-50 tackle with Tiago, but there was a sickening crunch and the English international rolled away in agony from the collision. Ferdinand left the field several minutes later on a stretcher and Fletcher took his place. The loss of the captain spurred United on and Rossi wormed his way into the penalty area after 59 minutes to thump a vicious shot goalwards. Coupet could only parry it and Akinbiyi gleefully whacked home the rebound to make it 2-0 to the home side. It was clear to West that his team were playing too well for him to be able to stuff it up with a couple of substitutions, so he left things as they were. Hell, it was only the Champions League and he was allowed a decent result or two in this competition. As it was, Akinbiyi soon called to be subbed as he was tiring, so Saha took his place. Evra also left the field to be replaced at the same time by Giggs. Giggs then supplied Heinze with a glorious cross which the Argentinean defender headed against the Lyon crossbar after 84 minutes as a three-goal lead threatened. As it was, Wiltord engineered a late attack for Lyon and sent over a low cross which Malouda flicked in with his heel at the near post to make the score 2-1 in the 90th minute. It was merely a consolation goal for the French team however as the whistle sounded a few moments later to give Manchester United their second win in the group stages and remarkably leave them with an opportunity of still qualifying for the next round.

Manchester United 2-1 Lyon
Scholes 47, Akinbiyi 59 – Malouda 90

After the match Fred West revealed that Rio Ferdinand had broken his ankle and would be missing for at least the next four months. “Rio has been performing admirably in the defensive midfielder’s role for the team and he will be sorely missed by all the players and the fans as we try to fight our way out of our form slump”, said West. “However I ask you not to fear for the team, for I have already made a phone call and set in motion the wheels of a transfer agreement by approaching a player to take Rio’s place on the field. This player is a fighter and a scrapper and he will work hard in the trenches to pull the team up from the doldrums that we are currently experiencing”. When pressed for a name, West declined to comment until the deal had been completed. “Just let me say that the player is an English international and an exceptional leader” is all that he would add.

Most of the papers the next day ran with the story that Manchester United were pursuing the Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, but almost all of them agreed that they would have a hard time getting him to sign a contract with the current state the club was in.