Last night Man United’s youngsters had a chance to show Man United manager Sir Alex Ferguson what they had. A very young team apart from a few, they had a lot of possession and quite a few chances, not a lot on target.
The Man United starting XI was- Ben Foster, Gary Neville, Wes Brown, Nemanja Vidic, Rafael da Silva, Gabriel Obertan, Anderson, Darron Gibson, Ji-Sung Park, Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck.
Besiktas got themselves a deflected goal in the first half and that was the only goal of the game. That goal earn’t Besiktas a win and that was the first time that Man United lost at Old Trafford since February 2005, when United lost to AC Milan.
We had a few moments of brilliance from Obertan and with more matches and when he gains more experience, he will be a very good player. Welbeck and Macheda did have their chances, most went off target but the goalkeeper did have to make a few saves.
Man United had, had most of the ball but 20 minutes in, Rodrigo Tello’s 25-yard shot deflected off Rafael and past Foster. Obertan nearly grabbed United the equaliser, he ran into the penalty area but the keeper made the block.
Just before half time, Besiktas were so close to going 2-0 up and they really should have. Michael Fink hit the woodwork and went for a goal kick, he should have really stuck that into the back of the net.
During the second half, Park shot wide and Obertan drew a couple of saves out of Rustu Recber. With 20 minutes left Michael Owen was brought on for Park but I can’t remember him having a shot, he only touched the ball once or twice.
Man United should have been awarded a penalty when substitute Patrice Evra was blocked off and taken down in the area. Nothing was awarded and that is disappointing because it was a blatant penalty kick.
Man United finally started having really good chances and shots in the final few minutes. I don’t know how we didn’t score but Rustu saved from Obertan, Macheda and Brown. The game finished 1-0, we had already qualified for the final 16 of the Champions League but we need a point in the final game away to Wolfsburg.
