Sir Alex Ferguson set for sleepless nights after team cannot put tie to bed

Sitting in the Europa Suite at Old Trafford on Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by reminders of his club’s long history in this competition, Sir Alex Ferguson had expressed his belief that this would be a “fantastic” scoreline at the halfway point in the Champions League semi-final. However, by the end of last night, the manager’s satisfaction at a dominant Manchester United performance was tempered by a nagging regret that they had let Arsenal off the hook.
A 1-0 lead is a decent advantage to take into the second leg at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, with John O’Shea, of all people, scoring the only goal last night, but it could have been so much better for United. A single goal seemed a disappointing return for a vibrant display that was epitomised by the tenacity of Darren Fletcher, Anderson, Wayne Rooney and the recalled Carlos Tévez, but Arsenal could claim that they had the game’s outstanding performer in Manuel Almunia.
The Spaniard made three outstanding saves in the first half, with Arsène Wenger describing his performance as “excellent, top class in every sense”. The goalkeeper had to be at his best, because none of his team-mates could claim to have been anything of the sort.
Arsenal were disappointing, struggling to produce the fluent football for which they are renowned, but under the circumstances, with William Gallas and Gaël Clichy missing from their defence and no Andrey Arshavin or Robin van Persie farther forward, it was asking a lot for Wenger’s team to reach the heights to which they aspire against a United side who have the bit between their teeth once more.
The question is whether Arsenal’s youngsters have enough about them to overturn the deficit. Too many of them found the going tough last night, as illustrated by Theo Walcott’s difficulty in finding a way past Patrice Evra, and they will need to raise their game on Tuesday, just as their supporters will need somehow to make the Emirates Stadium an intimidating venue for United. Even if Arsenal get the goal that is a minimum requirement, it is hard to imagine them keeping Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo et al quiet for 90 minutes.
In one sense, it did not look a fair fight. These things are not easy to say with regard to a club who do not disclose their transfer fees, but Arsenal’s entire starting line-up cannot have cost Wenger much more than the £30.75 million that Ferguson spent on Dimitar Berbatov, who was left out of the United team. On one hand it was remarkable that Ferguson chose to go without his record signing in such a big game, but the United manager chooses horses for courses and, against Arsenal’s slightly ponderous central defenders, the selection of Tévez made perfect sense and was quickly vindicated.
Tévez has been bitterly frustrated at sitting out so many important matches in favour of Berbatov and his determination to make the most of this opportunity was clear. It was he who took the fight to Arsenal in the opening half-hour, enabling United to set the kind of tempo that does not come naturally to a player of Berbatov’s undoubted talent. Tévez dragged Kolo Touré and Mikaël Silvestre this way and that, leaving Rooney and Ronaldo to stretch the full backs.
Arsenal’s supporters were relieved to reach half-time only one goal adrift, with Almunia’s name belted out with gusto as the whistle was blown. The first of his saves, as he back-pedalled and stretched to claw Rooney’s looping header away from the goalline, was excellent, but even better were the two that followed as he flung himself to his left to keep out Tévez’s close-range shot and then to his right to repel Ronaldo’s header.
Almunia, though, could not thwart United single-handedly. From the corner that followed his save from Tévez in the seventeenth minute, Anderson’s cross travelled beyond the far post, where Michael Carrick feinted to shoot before waltzing past Bacary Sagna. Carrick’s cross was unwittingly touched on by Silvestre to O’Shea, who quickly adjusted his body to send a firm shot into the roof of the net.
It was the least that United deserved for the manner in which they started, but the complexion and the mood of the game slowly began to change thereafter. Ferguson, in a half-time television interview, suggested that his team had controlled the game for 35 minutes, pinpointing the moment where he thought that Arsenal had established a foothold as the interval approached. Chances, though, were scarce — Cesc Fàbregas hit one shot straight at Edwin van der Sar and then, to great amusement, sent another one out for a throw-in — but at least they were stringing passes together, something they had struggled to do to that point.
Midway through the second half, after Ronaldo had rattled the woodwork with a stupendous 30-yard shot at one end and Emmanuel Adebayor had sent an effort flying over the crossbar at the other, Arsenal’s supporters called for Eduardo da Silva, an indication that they thought there was an away goal to be had. Wenger chose first to send on Nicklas Bendtner for Walcott and the Denmark forward came closest to scoring the goal that Arsenal craved, heading wide with four minutes remaining after a powerful leap had allowed him to get to a Fàbregas free kick ahead of Van der Sar.
By now, United seemed more concerned with containment, eager not to concede the away goal that would have handed the initiative to Arsenal, but Ryan Giggs, making his 800th appearance for the club as a substitute, thought that he had scored with 18 minutes remaining, only to be deemed offside from Rooney’s astute pass. Ferguson raged at the fourth official, but, if he is cursing anyone this morning, it is more likely to be Almunia.
Source:The times