review: Portsmouth 1 v 1 MANCHESTER UNITED

Article by Mark Graham, Stats Nerd

Match Review
Portsmouth 1 v 1 Manchester United, Fratton Park, Portsmouth, 19.45pm, Wednesday 16th August 2007.
Goals: Portsmouth: Benjani (53), Manchester United : Scholes (15).
Attendance: 20,510

For the second match running United failed to find a killer instinct to match dominant possession & some tidy football, a goal from Paul Scholes & later an equaliser in the form of a bullet header from (it has to be said) an unmarked Benjani shared the spoils between the two teams on Wednesday night.  SAF true to his word fielded the "Apache" and the little competitive Argentine was busy especially in the 1st half of the game with all eyes on Tevez, the game ended with eyes on other things for different reasons.

With Nani & Ronaldo on the wings & Carrick & Scholes in the middle with Tevez & Giggs in the forward positions, but still no Anderson or Hargreaves United look comfortable & confident.

As your reporter settled to watch the game I overheard two United fans say "They (United) were shite on Sunday weren't they, "yeah they were total crap" came the reply.  I don't know about you but I very strongly disagree, United are playing well enough to beat any team, but are unlucky in front of goal.

Totally dominant in possession & having the best of the chances, the Reds just can not convert the possession into goals, this will come, but the situation is made worse by the Rent boys scraping victories as we draw stalemates.

As the Reds settled playing some good football, Portsmouth defender Hermann Hreidarsson caught Ronaldo from the back in the penalty area only for Bennett to wave away any request for a spot kick, the Reds would soon however take a lead as Tevez showed some clever touches and holding play with the United debutant teeing up a "Ginger Ninja" thunderbolt from 20 yards which Pompey Keeper David James (Moira Stewart) had no chance whatsoever in saving.

United probing for another goal to put some distance between the two side's, then saw Ronaldo go close as his deflected shot stuck the side-netting.

The second half of the game saw James as a Pompey hero as the former Bindipper saved expertly from Nani and Tevez blazed an easy chance over the bar & suddenly the home side seemingly feeding off the two missed chances raised the tempo of the game. Totally unmarked steaming into the box Benjani then met an Mathew Taylor cross which left EVDS no chance resulting in Portsmouth drawing level with the Champions and giving the Reds work to do.

Giggs and Ronaldo were both thwarted later in the match by the in form James and the laugh of the night came embarrassingly from striker David Nugent, after a quick Portsmouth break the former Preston man found space on the left of goal & a one-on-one with Van der Sar, the striker slipped on his face leaving ball to run away from United danger making the new signing look a pillock.

Guilty once again of missing chances, Vidic had a effort which he just and so missed & Tevez from a Ronaldo rebounded shot went close, however United failed to capitalise as seems to be the fashion this Premiership season so far.

The game then ended on a sour note as Muntari was sent off after he flattened Michael Carrick & Ronaldo was shown a straight red card after appearing to react & head-butt Hughes.

United's Man of the Match
Vidic commanded & marshalled most of the home sides attack as his colleagues failed once again to convert created chances

MUFC.COM's Reaction
Arghhhhhhhhhhhh, what do we have to do to score, another game where we created enought to win easily, this curse will have to finish soon as our rivals are pulling away slowly.

Was our prediction correct?
No! We said 2-1.

Milestones
SAF's 133rd draw of his Premiership career.
EVDS's 100th competitive appearance for MUFC.

United's Next Match
Sunday 19th August 2007 against Manchester City in the Premiership at The Council House with a 13:30 kick off.

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