SIR Alex Ferguson was in no doubt his Manchester United side will continue to flourish in Europe after witnessing a fine attacking display in their 4-2 Champions League away win at Dynamo Kiev.
United ran into problems in the group phase last season despite matching this year’s start with three wins in a row.
But he believes the squad he has now will not make the same mistakes as last term when reverses at the hands of FC Copenhagen and Celtic rocked the Reds.
“(Last season) we made some changes which didn’t work out for us in Copenhagen (when they lost 1-0), then lost to Celtic and we had to win the last game in Lille but this side are more mature now,” said Ferguson after watching efforts from Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo (two) put his side clear.
“But our attacking play was excellent tonight. We could have scored a lot of goals. Yes, there have been some moments when they were a bigger threat in the second half but all in all we’re very happy with the result.
“They’re all adapting and getting on with it and we’re not worried about which formations we’re playing or which players because they’ve all got great ability. We’re happy at the moment.”
Ronaldo’s second came from the penalty spot after Goran Gavrancic was deemed, after discussions between the officials, to have deliberately handled in the area from Carlos Tevez’s cross.
But Ferguson was in no doubt about the accuracy of the decision.
Asked if it was a spot kick, the Scot said on ITV1: “Yes. The linesman seemed to have accepted it was a penalty but the referee was unsure. But it was a penalty.”
Do you think United have found their best attacking formation? Have your say.
Fergie relishing Reds attack
October 23, 2007
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I object to being called a bag just because we are doing well .A bag?Blue arrogant git .Rather be referred to as a Bertie!
Nani .Anderson ,Tevez Are all showing the skills SAF said they would.Where are all the doubters now ,admittedly mostly Berties intruding on the Champions side,but they are being proved wrong!
12 goals in 3 matches says it all.Entertaining football too!
Having had a quick glance at the Berties site ,a certain wooleyback blue is whinging to Editor that the city site is being inundated with reds posting!Mr wooleyback on this site we have had yourself ,Blip , Ted Knott ,Mike under various names,Doherty ,tommy coopers fez ,O,fortuna, Jack Thorley,and a host of others, who last season were conspicuous by their absence.
My advice is ,if you cant take it ,dont give it! Dont blame the Editor!
"...we’re not worried about which formations we’re playing..."!
Hahaha! Perhaps Fergie's been reading this forum and seen how hung up we all are about formations!
4 goal in 3 matches running.... how those doomsayers must be feeling now, doubting that the goals will come. Cannot wait for the test against Arsenal, who are also flying high at the moment......
AWESOME REDS!!!!What more can be said .Well done to Rangers ,and Gunners too!
pre Anderson- 1-0 ... 1-0... so on....post anderson 4-0....4-1....4-1....
now gather round
Open letter to bernard Mathews,,, Dear B,,
As crimbo is comin up ow a bout a bit of a trade,,,, if you av a couple of crippled turkeys u wanna swap for our crippled turkeys.. saha n Hargreaves, your on,,, don't worry bout human rights you don't av to name the turkeys you send us,,,, happy crimbo et bon appetite...Ged
Bloody hell Red Dawn - you're not exaclty...etc etc
Win the last game in Lille? I thought we didn't play Lille till the second round? How about beating Benfica 3-1 at home, sounds familiar? Hopefully Fergie's memory comes back before he plays an under-strength eleven again instead of learning from his repeated mistakes.
Great display last night and for a change an exciting away game, we played to our own strengths and took the game to them. Rooney was a bit wasteful in front of goals but cant complain, though van would have had at least have had a hat trick. Anderson played well and without opening the fletcher debate he was our only weak link, it's bad enough when he plays but half fit is even worse i couldn't believe pique never replaced him. Finally after watching the coverage last night i was incensed that the so called experts kept telling us that this was the worst kiev team they had ever seen and there defending was awful, yet arsenal hammer slavia 7-0 and for what i saw of the highlights walked through on goal unchallenged and slavia had one attack yet they are hailed as the best team ever, also loved how they are getting excited that a british player actually scored a goal for them.
Given the attacking talents available and level of understanding as present, I do think Sir Fergie has finally found his dream attacking fronts.
Without familiar established centre midfield pairing that always comprise of one attack-minded & another one defensive-minded, Man Utd usually struggle when away from home. Surprised pair of Anderson & Fletcher did very good job there to link really well with team attacking focal of Giggs, Ronaldo, Tevez, & Rooney.
No one of them above well-known for their defensive abilities.
Thanks to the level of adaptability showed by the new signings especially Carlitos & Nani, while Anderson slowly step into the side & then shows encouraging sign.
From game to game basis, 'Apache' seems developing his strike-partnership with our No. 10 & its getting better all the times. Both also show that they can heading too!! And the way Tevez plays also indicates that he is Man Utd-type player. Great talent that comes with superb work-rate.
While Nani seems managed to click straightaway from the start of the season. He is also improving all the times. Another wonderful talent that will be the key to Man Utd future.
As Anderson start to show his glimpses of natural talents & why Man Utd paid such big amount of money to lure him to Old Trafford. He is more to uncut diamond that need to be polished in the right way to reach the finished article tag. May be one day I as a fan will be proud to say he is 'Scholesy with pace that also can tackle'.
While the seasoned campaigners that won lots down the years also not showing any sign of slowdown.
Frightening ...
Great attacking performance last night, well done lads!
I'm a bit concerned about our injury list though: vds, neville, evra, park, carrick, scholes, hargreaves, foster, saha, silvestre. It's funny how the national media don't mention it but if it was Chelsea/Arsenal they would make sure everyone knew.
As for Anderson, wow, we have got something special with this guy!
edinburgh red, I have a strange feeling of deja vu.
Kiev needed to get somethnig from the game.Because of that the game was open like schoolboy football.UNITED won and played well within themselves.The real tests lie ahead but we look a potentially great team.
is this the end of the boring 451,with tevez and rooney flying around covering every blade of grass and tracking back when need be.Thought anderson was good again showing signs that he is going to be the complete midfielder, but hope we dont have to rely on him and fletcher for too long. thought we were shit hot going forward last night,ronaldo looks lije he will have no problem reaching last years goal tally, and can see rooney and tevez getting 40+. the futher is bright, the futher is red...
Edinburgh Red - i'm a bit surprised at your comment on Fletcher who yet again played very well in a CL game in CM. He seems to excel for his country and in Europe but is found wanting in the Prem. Anderson looks awesome to me and he is a lot more proficient at tackling than our beloved Ginger Prince! Nani is a wonderful option off the bench. He seems to have as much pace and more tricks than CR - exciting times! Hope Evra is back soon
Have to say that I agree with the comparisons with Dwight and Yorke.
I never really brought the theory that Rooney and Tevz wouldn't work as a pair, because they both like to come deep. Rooney is young enough and talented enough to play wherever he wants. With each game I watch, Rooney is looking more and more like a out-and-out centre-forward, winning headers, scoring tap-ins and running off the shoulder of the last defender.
Neither of them are particularly tall but neither were Yorke/Cole and Rooney is definitely getting better in the air.
If their understanding of each other's game keeps improving at the current rate they will be unbelievably good by the end of the season.
dynamo wern't that bright i think the kievs played a bit chicken and were well roasted!
Only 1 down side to this Tevez-Rooney combo. If either one is rested (the thought of injury give me cold sweat), we need someone able to step in to at least cause the defenses problems. Everyone who says we need a plan B, or a 3rd person in the mix who is willing to come in as a sub is right. I'm sure SAF is also thinking the same way but not telling. Go MU!
Mick, did Dwight Yorke suffer from a split personality disorder? If so, which one was the footballer & which was the one that put Jordan up the duff? :-)
I have to admit that was a cracking game last night & it augurs well for the rest of the competition. I'm just hoping that both Evra's & Scholes injuries aren't too serious as imo they will be sorely missed.
Vidic should take up rugby! YES a clear cut penalty and a red card but NO utd get away with it AGAIN!!!!
Its starting to come together improving game by game thats how it should be . Some of our players are not World class some were not perfect last night players will make mistakes SAF will pick players WE ALL wont agree with , how many arguments did us reds have between ourselves about SAF team selection during the TREBLE winning season ? , leave it to the bitters to try and humilitate our players on these pages. For those of you who like stats Rio egualled the goal scoring record ( 1 goal ) of that massive club over at wastelands in The Champions League (European Cup).
Mick totally agree. Rooney is coming into some great form and I think in Tevez he has found his ideal partner.
Ted Knott probably sits in front of his 9"black and white set .sky blue spectacles donned,foaming at the mouth when United scored,then checking his ukrainian phrasebook to shout "goal",and then angry ,& disappointed with the result,nods off,and dreams of 1976, (still in black and white of course)