Manchester United kicked off their preseason USA tour with a bang as they defeated the Revolution 4-1. The score line and game was fairly predictable as obviously Man U is a stronger team – they were always expected to be the better team and demonstrated this from the first whistle, even if it took them into the second half to score. It was Man U’s first game since their defeat in the Champions League final and the starting lineup looked somewhat similar to the lineup in that defeat. In a standard 4-4-2, Anders Lindegaard started in goal with Fabio and Rafael occupying both outside back positions and Vidic and Johnny Evans playing at center back. In front of them was Carrick and Anderson, with newly signed Ashley Young out wide along with Nani on the other side. Rooney and Berbatov started up top to round out the starting eleven. On the other side of things, the Revs played out of a 4-3-3 in a lineup that, before the numerous subs to start the second half, was a pretty accurate resemblance of their top eleven. Matt Reis started in goal with AJ Soares and Franco Coria ahead of him. Kevin Alston and Chris Tierney played outside back to form the back four. The middle three consisted of Pat Phelan, Shalrie Joseph and Benny Feilhaber playing in a little more advanced role. Finally Nyassi started as one winger with Boggs playing the other and Lekic playing up top by himself to form the starting eleven.
The game was a little slow in the first half, although it would come to life more in the second stanza. From the get go Man U asserted control in the game as they had the lion-share of possession. Seeing the game live in person made me appreciate the effective simplicity United plays with. As we all know they are one of the top teams in the whole world, perhaps only second to Barcelona, and there is really nothing that special to how they play. There’s no Ronaldo anymore who can single handedly change the game and there’s no single dynamic to the team that makes them superior. They are simply very good in virtually all areas of the field and effectively incorporate all eleven players on the field and play incredibly well together as a unit. It was interesting because for how much better they were then the Revolution, there wasn’t really too much that separated either team. This game was not like the case of the US – Spain game that was also played at Gillette Stadium earlier where it was very clear that on an individual and team level the US lacked the same creative and intelligent qualities to produce some of the moves and goals the Spanish were able to. In contrast, Man U did not do anything that was so mind-blowing, except maybe the fourth goal, that one would think the Revs players would not be able to also do. Instead, the little things, often which separate teams and players from being good to being great, provided the biggest gap between the two sides. Man U very rarely gave the ball away cheaply, if at all, which allowed them to build many attacking moves and maintain their rhythm in the match. In contrast, there were too many simply giveaways by Revs players – not from anywhere in particular, just all over the field it was too acceptable for the Revs players to make mistakes that resulted in a loss of possession. A prime example of this is Lekic playing up top. To be fair, he had a difficult role playing up top alone, but, especially in the beginning of the game, at least half the times he received the ball it ultimately resulted in the Revs losing possession. This made it very difficult for the Revs to construct any sort of attack because its difficult to get to goal if you can’t play through your central striker.
This is just one example, but it illustrates the general theme that the basic things in the match played a significant factor in creating the gap between Man U’s level and that of the Revs. In contrast to Lekic, virtually every time Man United players went forward through the center, Rooney and Berbatov (or Macheda and Owen) were able to hold the ball and maintain possession. This is incredibly important as it allowed Man U to get numbers forward and maintain possession in attacking, dangerous areas of the field. Man U moves forward as a unit well and the forwards holding up the ball allows the central midfield players, as well as the outside backs, the join the attack and also maintain possession. Furthermore, this keeps the Revs defending and allows Man U to continue to build their rhythm and have control of the game. In addition, when Man U finally did lose the ball, they already had many numbers forward so it was easy for them to apply pressure immediately to win the ball back. Seeing as they were playing against the Revs, who as mentioned earlier were susceptible to giving the ball away too easily, this is often what happened. Again this is just a simple example, but it is evident what an enormous effect such a simple component of the game can have. Man United masterfully controls all of these little components to produce very solid team efforts and strong performances on a very consistent basis, making them one of the top teams in the world. Its a simplicity that may be under stated, but can certainly be appreciated when seeing them in person.
Despite this effective simpleness though, Man United struggled to find a breakthrough in the first half as they could not carve out too many really dangerous chances. Things changed though in the second half with the substitutions as Macheda and Owen were brought on to replace Rooney and Berbatov. The former brought some more energy and raised the tempo in attack, which ultimately proved to be too much for the Revs to handle. To be fair though, Steve Nicol also made numerous changes to the Revs side throughout the second half, so the team Man U undid for four goals was largely the Revs second team. However, I think that even the Revs first team would have struggled with the higher tempo that Man U brought in the second half. All in all there weren’t any real surprises from the outcome. The score line may be a little harsh for the Revs, but, as expected, they were certainly the inferior side throughout the duration of the match. For me personally it was a great experience getting to see such quality live in person and it was also a good turnout as the crowd surpassed 50,000. It must have been special for the Revs players not only to play against such a renowned club as Man U, but also to play in front of such a crowd as they don’t get near that figure for their home games. For Man U they continue their tour of the US with their next stop being out west in Seattle. They will take on the Sounders and then travel to Chicago to face the Fire before taking on the MLS All Stars in New York and the match that everyone is looking forward to, a rematch with Barcelona in DC. And for the Revs, its back to the grind of the MLS once again as they stay at home to face the Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia Union this Sunday in what should be a tough match.
(image courtesy of revolutionsoccer.net)
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