Let me start off with an admission. I am now a certified hypocrite. It is amazing how I have traveled a whole gulf of emotions in a matter of a few years. Watching Michael Owen in the Liverpool red would make me nauseous. Now look at me, championing his cause for a regular starting berth. But who cares, right? Michael Owen is now a Red and whether he hates Scousers or not, he is scoring goals for United. And last night Michael Owen showed the entire world that finishing is an art of which he is a Picasso.
A heavily patched up United was on display last night. When Michael Carrick plays as a center-back you know that not all is right with the world. But when the same Carrick holds his own against some of the best strikers in European football, you know that not everything is bad either. A 3-5-2 is not one of Fergie’s favourites but he wasn’t left with much of a choice yesterday. A back-three of Carrick, Fletcher and Evra was handed the task of shielding Kusczcak from the might of Dzeko and to a lesser extent Grafite. A five-man midfield comprising Scholes, Gibson, Anderson, Park and Nani (yeah, you read it right) were to choke the supply lines and hit them on the counter. And the front two of Owen and Welbeck were to look for goals. The initial omens were not good. Two glaring misses from the Germans filled me with dread. The ease with which they were able to get to our new-look defence was scary. But slowly and steadily we started to pass and create a few chances for ourselves. Fergie is right, had we conceded early our entire system of play would have went up in flames. As it was, they missed and old, little Mickey Owen stunned them. A vintage Nani cross and a clever run was followed by a textbook header. A finish Gerd Muller would have been proud of.
Considering that Wolfsburg needed to get a result, it was hardly surprising that they came out all determined after the interval. Their persistence paid off when a brilliant Schafer cross was headed in by Dzeko to give some hope to the Germans. But Gabriel Obertan produced a piece of magic to weave his way to the byline and square it for an impeccably positioned Owen to slot it home. And it wasn’t much of a surprise when from a glaring Wolfsburg miss, United countered to give Owen a run-through on goal. A delicate chipped finish over the ‘keeper was a testament to the class that still runs through Michael Owen’s veins. A 1-3 win in the face of adversity was the end result and most importantly top spot was achieved (whether that is desirable or not remains a debate for another day).
I will sum up my analysis with some observations. Feel free to agree or disagree.
1. Tomasz Kusczcak is a better alternative to VDS than poor Ben Foster. PIG, I think, has earned his right to the assumption of the mantle of VDS’ understudy.
2. Nani is a talented player who will never make it at United. Sad, but true.
3. Gabriel Obertan is a promising player. Whether he converts his promise into end-product or goes the Nani way remains to be seen.
4. Michael Carrick has a secondary choice of employment.
5. Welbeck is not, I repeat, not good enough for United. How can a player with that bad a first touch make it at the highest level?
6. Michael Owen is the best finisher in our team right now and needs to be played a lot more.
That pretty much sums up my assessment. Personally I wouldn’t like Mickey Owen to go to the World Cup(club> country always) but if he does then it would only be on the back of some solid performances for United. So it is good either way for us.
For now let us bask in the glow of this extremely impressive performance. However let us not forget that a difficult awaits us in the coming weekend (for which we will be fielding a back four comprising Evra, Vidic, Carrick and Fletcher it has been confirmed). Let us just hope we ride this tide of injuries with minimum repercussions.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I think I agree with all the 6 observations you made. Totally think Kusczcak has taken his chance well to prove that he is better than Foster and don’t like Wellbeck’s touch and finishing abilities at all.
Glad we agree on a lot of things. Now what do you think about Macheda? Do you think he is good enough?
Michael Owen always had a class, but his movement and pace ofcourse is nowhere near his Liverpool days. He fits his current role at United perfectly. He played a similar role for us during 2004-05 but that time he was fast enough and good enough to play as a regular starter. No surprise that he left to Newcastle then.
I am not sure about Macheda, but I was never quite sure about Rossi as well and he turned out to be bloody good. Why did United let Rossi leave?