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 Wednes day 30th November 2005, Carling Cup round 4, Old Trafford, Kick-Off 8:00pm
Manchester United: Howard, Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Richardson, Ronaldo, O'Shea (Pique 67), Fletcher (Jones 59), Park (Bardsley 63), Rossi, Saha. Subs not used: Steele (gk), Rooney Albion: Hoult, Albrechtsen, Moore (Gaardsoe HT), Clement, Robinson, Kamara (Earnshaw 70), Wallwork, Inamoto, Carter, Horsfield (Chaplow 66), Ellington. Subs not used: Kuszczak (gk), Greening Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear) Half-Time: Manchester United 2-0 Albion Attendance: 48,924 Conditions: Dry and mild
MATCH REPORT
BY: ALBION TEAM NEWS: Baggies’ boss Bryan Robson makes five changes - two enforced - to the side that drew at Middlesbrough on Sunday afternoon. Tomasz Kuszczak, Kanu and Jonathan Greening are rested with Russell Hoult, Geoff Horsfield and Darren Carter the men replacing them. Darren Moore comes in for the cup-tied Curtis Davies and Martin Albrechtsen replaces the injured Steve Watson.MANCHESTER UNITED TEAM NEWS: Sir Alex Ferguson makes six changes to the side that beat West Ham at Upton Park on Sunday. Rooney, Van der Saar, Smith, Scholes, Brown and van Nistelrooy are all rested with Howard, Neville, Rossi, Saha, Richardson and Ronaldo the men taking their places in the starting line-up.UNITED STROLL ON EMOTIONAL OLD TRAFFORD NIGHT Cheated - That’s the only way I can describe how I felt when the team was announced prior to the game. I, along with most other Albion fans travelled to Manchester with genuine hope that we could beat Sir Alex Ferguson’s men and progress to the next round, especially after Baggies’ boss Bryan Robson had announced he would make very few changes to the side that drew impressively at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday. In the end, and despite stressing the importance of playing a settled side he opted to make five changes. Fair enough he was forced into making two due to Curtis Davies being cup-tied and Steve Watson being injured but there was no justification in my opinion to have made any more, especially the ones he did. For a reason that no-one amongst the travelling support could understand Russell Hoult returned between the sticks for his first appearance since ironically the away game at Old Trafford last season. The simple fact is Hoult is no longer good enough, he can’t kick, he’s lost all agility and no one has any confidence in him. The decision to bring in Moore and Horsfield was equally baffling. Both players are an embarrassment at this level and neither should be anywhere near the first team squad. The final question about team selection has to be why Carter for Greening? The ex-Blues midfielder has impressed no-one this season, his performances have been quite frankly shocking and last night’s was the worst of the lot. He can’t run, pass or tackle; David Gold and Steve Bruce must have laughed all the way to the bank when the deal was struck. Due to the match being the first at Old Trafford since the death of George Best the night was always going to be an emotional affair and so it proved. If anyone had any doubts about the impact Best made on people over the years then all they needed to do was view the flowers, shirts, flags and scarfs that had been left outside the ground. There were literally thousands, clubs from all over the country, infact, from all over the World were represented in one way or another. The pre-match tributes on the pitch were also touching as a line-up of stars past and present all paid tribute to the great man. The game itself was instantly forgettable as far as Albion fans were concerned although we did make a bright start. With just four minutes on the clock Nathan Ellington was brought down just outside the penalty area by former Albion loanee Kieran Richardson. It was a perfect position for the left foot of Neil Clement but as is so often the case with him he completely wasted the free-kick. From then on it was a United masterclass. Despite only being at half-strength Ferguson’s men still outclassed us far too easily and they had the ball in the net as early as the seventh minute when Louis Saha netted at the near post following a Guiseppe Rossi cross. Fortunately for the visitors the goal was ruled out for offside but we would not be so lucky just five minutes later. A clumsy challenge by Diomansy Kamara on Cristiano Ronaldo gave the young Portuguese star the chance to give the hosts the lead from the penalty spot which he duly took. Albion were looking a complete shambles in defence and it wasn’t long before Saha made it 2-0. After allowing the Frenchman far too much space he fired in a 20 yard shot which although it took a slight deflection Hoult should certainly of saved. With only Inamoto and Ellington appearing interested we never really looked like getting back into the game and infact the only real chance we had in the first half came on the stroke of half-time when Kamara played Horsfield through on goal only for the ex-Blues striker to fire wide when he should of at least got his shot on target. United immediately responded and young striker Rossi was unlucky to see his close range shot rebound off the post. Half-time saw Bryan Robson make one change with Darren Moore being replaced by Thomas Gaardsoe. Although Moore had played poorly during the first half it was a strange decision. Being 2-0 down we badly needed to pull a goal back and surely a better option would have been to of brought either Rob Earnshaw or Jonathan Greening on? The second-half continued much in the same way as the first with United on top and passing us off the pitch at times and in the 56th minute they finished the game off when John O’Shea fired past Hoult from close range following a neat one-two with Saha. With us being 3-0 down surely it was time to introduce Rob Earnshaw and at least try to get a goal or two back but strangely Robson decided to bring Richard Chaplow on for Geoff Horsfield and switched to one up front. Much like his starting line-up no-one really understood what Robson was trying to do. Thankfully four minutes later Earnshaw did finally come on in place of Kamara, thus meaning we had two up front once again although to be fair it made little difference. Fourteen minutes from time Nathan Ellington did pull a goal back for us with an excellent header from a Carter corner but it was too little too late. Although a chant of “We’re gonna win 4-3” started emanating from the visitors section of the ground there was never really any hope of a comeback. On leaving the ground the feeling amongst Baggies’ fans was one of disappointment, not only with the performance but also the team selection. After good performances in the last two games with a settled side hopes were high that we had finally turned the corner and better times were ahead. It also appeared that Robson had learnt his lesson in regards to chopping and changing the team. We now know different. MAN OF THE MATCH: Nathan Ellington PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN Hoult 3 - Kicking was
shocking, should of saved second goal.
Albrechtsen 5 - Did just about enough.
Moore 3 - Very poor and was partly at fault for
first goal.
Clement 5 - Not our worst defender on the night
but still needs to improve.
Robinson 5 - Another below-par performance; yet to
regain his early season form.
Kamara 4 - Contributed very little and conceded
penalty.
Wallwork 5 - Did try but simply not quick
enough.
Inamoto 7 - Excellent first half but faded
second.
Carter 2 - Absolutely shocking, one of the worst
performances I've ever seen from an Albion player. REF WATCH
Mark Clattenberg 6 - Started off like he was going
to be all United but as the game went on his performance improved.
FAN
WATCH
wba.co.uk
Bryan Robson :"We played some very good football and United also played some very good attacking football. But we let ourselves down with some bad defending. We started the game brightly enough and had the first couple of shots in the game. But the first two goals we gave away were really poor and bad defending by us. In the first attack Manchester United had, we were rash and gave away a penalty, which they scored from. We had two people by Ronaldo when he received the ball and we went diving in unnecessarily to give them the penalty.” "It's always difficult then when you're playing against a side of United's calibre to get back into it. And we gifted United the game when we were playing some pretty good attacking football ourselves. Our first seven shots in the game were within 25 yards of the United goal and we didn't hit the target once. We were well away from being clinical tonight." "Because it was a cup-tie, I didn't send us out to be defensive because the last thing I wanted was extra-time. I wanted our players to go out and express themselves and see if they could score goals. We created some reasonable situations but the only thing I can take out of the game is that my players kept going. That's all I can ask of them when they're playing against a top side like United.” "Sir Alex (Ferguson) showed us a lot of respect because I thought he would have fielded a weaker side than he did. He put his first back-four out and they are difficult to break down. But I was pleased with how many shots we got in against them." Source: wba.co.uk
Sir Alex Ferguson: "It was a good night for us. Everything went well. The pre-match tribute to George, I thought was fantastic. I think we had a good performance, with very good movement in the match and played some excellent football. Two goals were very well made and well taken. We've progressed into the quarter finals, and got some young players experience, which is important, so it was a good night for Manchester United overall.” "I'm delighted to see Louis Saha tonight, we know his ability, he's a fantastic striker and we hope he steers clear of injury. He's been unlucky when training with France and playing for them, I think they could have done better for him. He's only had one injury with us but he's been looking great in training.” "We're in the last eight and that sums it up. The Carling Cup, now it allows the European teams in later, does give you the opportunity to get to the later stages. We've used the young players into the bargain, we're in the quarter finals and there's some good teams left so we'll have a go.” "I think it was great. The supporters throughout tonight provided the most fitting tribute they could have done." Source: Sky Sports
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