That United came from behind to beat the hosts thanks to goals from Wayne Rooney, Federico Macheda and Dimitar Berbatov was a fact almost irrelevant to a capacity crowd, who wanted only to see Park Ji-sung playing in Korea in a United shirt for the first time.
Time and again when Park’s face was flashed on big screens at both ends of the stadium, the home supporters made it perfectly clear what they wanted to see. They even booed when Park’s face disappeared to be replaced by the match taking place in front of them.
Park is the embodiment of South Korea’s passion for the beautiful game, and after a knee injury robbed him of the chance to play on tour two years ago, this time, despite his delayed start to pre-season, he did not let them down, entering the fray after 73 minutes as a substitute.
Some players on this tour have more to gain that others.
Rooney for instance is an automatic choice in any strong United line-up, so his first-half equaliser was merely confirmation of his well-being.
Macheda on the other hand, has some proving to do.
At 17, nobody is expecting the Italian to be the finished article.
Trust
However, Ferguson will be placing an immense amount of trust in the young Italian if, as has been pledged, he hands him the fourth striker’s berth this season.
In these warm-up games, Macheda has done his cause no harm at all, particularly in the latest and undoubtedly most competitive of the four matches United will complete in the Far East.
After delivering a decent left-wing cross that Ryan Giggs completely missed and failing to control an astute pass from the Welshman that would have set him up for the type of spectacular curling effort that he announced his arrival with against Aston Villa last season, Macheda found the net just after half-time.
Strike partner Rooney supplied the killer cross field pass, which sent the teenager scampering clear of a static Seoul defence. The cool way he took his chance justified Ferguson’s belief that Macheda is the best finisher at United, better even than Michael Owen.
The goal brought the Red Devils level, just as Rooney had done earlier when he headed home John O’Shea’s cross after Dejan Damjanovic had opened the scoring.
Macheda’s goal allowed him to draw level with Rooney and Owen as tour top scorer on two. Rather embarrassingly, Berbatov did not have any to his name before he popped up with the winner.
A patchy debut season from United’s £30.75million record signing has left a lot of supporters unconvinced. The fact his arrival coincided with Carlos Tevez’s disenchantment and subsequent departure for Manchester City only makes the situation worse.
Yet Berbatov does have talent, although getting the best of him has taken Ferguson longer than he would have liked.
Nevertheless, his neat headed finish from Darron Gibson’s cross was very welcome on a personal level, in addition to giving United a deserved victory.
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A very tough first half, which saw a lot of our players struggle to keep up the pace. It gave us a bit of an insight to how the team is developing and the most obvious message is that our midfield will continue to struggle.
Berba should be worried, he probably doesn’t care, because Kiko once again looked very good. I’m sure a lot of fans would like him ahead of Berba in the pecking order, me one of them. Dimi did put away a very good header but his pass and stroll style of football is just too irritating.
The bad news is that Nani seems to have been officially Fergified, he will be a left winger whether he likes it or not. It’s like watching Giggs on the right wing, you know he’s going to have to cut back to get onto his good foot, and you know that he would be so much better on the other wing. Another player that has surprised me is Gibson and he could push Fletcher for a starting place.
And it looks like Roo has been working on his aerial work again, he's now developed a method of scoring with that bit between his shoulder and neck. Bet Ronaldo couldn't do that.
just seen the goals on Sky nice bit of finishing by kiko starting to look really good for this kid, two neat headers from rooney and berbatov its all coming together nicely.to all the berties- thanks for taking carlos kickaball off our hands, i think youve just done us the biggest favour without even realising it!
Rubbish comment on Berbatov. What's MENs mission here; to make Berbatov disliked by the fans, add pressure on him and that way increase the possibility that he'll fail? If it had been Owen or Rooney who'd popped up and headed in the winner, we would have had another article singing praises for the man who won us the match. If ww wan't to see Berbatov's genious blossom in United, get off the mans back and support the lad as the member of United he is!
Macheda needs to develop greater composure and a better touch: at 17 he is still miles away being the quality United need to compete.
The midfield looked all at sea until the introduction of Gibson and Scholes. There was little pace on the wings until Nani's introduction and he had a couple of decent runs. After those changes, United looked sharp and could have run out easier winners but the first half was pretty dire. Fletcher was slow, Anderson overhit most passes, Giggs couldn't get into the game and Carrick was reluctant to cross the half way line. It is clearly impossible for two strikers to find any space unless someone in midfield breaks forward but that was never likely to happen with the first 4 picked. Another win but, marketing apart, I'm not sure what we will have learnt from the game.
MEN are just trying to unsettle Berbatov as usual. Comparing him with Mr. Kickaball Tevez? Behave......
The idea of pre season games are to get players match fit also our world wide fan base can have a look at our players.
Well done boys !!
now it remains to be seen how we fare against top flight teams !
Ed from Davyhulme. WE aren't supposed to learn anything from the game. The fitness coaches learn most and after that the regular coaches will be looking at things like attitude and appetite. They won't be looking at performance or formation in detail yet. It's way too soon and, whatsmore, the teams we have thus far played will not be the team who we start the season playing. This part of pre-season is about getting fitness levels up, so performance isn't important.
First half was dire. Only 1 cross which produced a goal from Rooney. The latter seem to be the only one interested in the game. Giggs was playing at walking pace. Fletcher was back to his old self i.e. clumsy and awkward. Anderson could pass his mate would was 2 yards from him. In brief, midfield was all at sea and the strikers had to drop back very deep. Defence was panicky especially Evra caught out of position every time n O'She demonstrated yet again (bar the cross which led to the goal)why he is the most hated MU player! He just could do anything right!!Grrr!!!
Second half was much better, especially after the substitutions. Gibson n Scholes took control of midfield. The former was surprisingly involved in almost every attack we made. Berbatov was impressive and his work-rate seemed to have improved. Nani disappointed yet again!!! Running into blind alleys every time when in possession. Poor decision making, misplaced control, couldn't shoot on target...a Championship player for me. And yes Brown for the man of the match!He was all over the field.
This week's poll about who should be our starting goalie is very unfair as it doesn't include Kuszczak who has looked the pick of the goalies on tour. They scored 2 against him today but he had no chance as the defence were on holiday.
This is exactly the same report as on the Sky website - who's copying who?
Good to see Kiko amongst the goals again. Keep it up son.
the point is the teams winning and not losing to inferior opposition. the other point is that the season is 3 weeks away, in terms of fitness work and match fitness that's a long way off. there are many friendlies between now and the start of the season too, to sharpen things up.players are only playing half a match or 60 mins (many of them) so the rhythm will be upset in thes games. these games are obviously there to win but that is not what the whole point of these fixtures. its to build up fitness, to look at fringe players and to work on the formation to be played this coming season..i do agree with the comment on fergie playing players out of position (for their entire careers in many cases), why he does this no one knows. Denis irwin played nearly his entire career at ot at leftback, even though he was bought as a rightback!okay he did well there but most of the time when fergie does this it destroys players confidence, or at least, adds nothing to the team(alan smith in midfield was a disaster and he may not have got his serious injury at Anfield if he hadnt been in midfield)he ruined Brian Mcclair who scored 31 goals followed by 22 by putting him in midfield for the rest of his career. he became a Tevez like midfielder,ran around all game, but in choccys case he scored less goals than tevez once he was put in midfield.weve seen ferguson do it with Rooney, playing him on the wing (what a disaster that was in the champs league final).fergies medalling is more of a worry and where he will play Rooney too is a concern than any of these friendly performances.
I've never been Darren Fletchers biggest supporter in the middle of the park, but seeing him wide right was once again a complete joke. United have always relied on our wide players to penetrate the opposition defences by either running at them or in david Beckhams case, offering pin point crosses.
When I watch Darren Fletcher on the right, all he ever seems to do, even when put into space, is slow up and either give a five yard pass sideways or backwards. Surely if we are going to compete once again this season we need to start with the right players in the correct positions. I know many of you love Fletchers workrate but get real, how many strengths does he actually have? Playing wide on the right, I would say none.
Whats the bit between the shoulder and the neck Frank?
Whats the bit between the shoulder and the neck Frank?
Whats the bit between the shoulder and the neck Frank?
at least kiko certainly doesnt look out of place which in itself is a compliment to a 17 year old playing at united.
Not to sound negative but i hope someone at OT has thought to put some big buy out clauses in the contracts of kiko,the twins, llajic ,petrucci + costa IF he comes ...and i think he will eventually ..might be some years down the road but we ve not been the smartest in such matters re buying and selling in recent times...ronaldo apart..
T&C, i agree that there's not much to learn at this stage about how the team is coming along. however the question of how we will be lining up for the coming season is an interesting one and very important. As for individuals, it's clear from the tour that Macheda and Fabio will get a fair bit of game time over the coming season. Both have impressed greatly. Given Fergie has said he envisages that we'll be more compact in midfield over the coming year (now that Ronaldo is gone) I really hope he doesn't mean in the sort of way that we lined out for the first half. As we saw against barca a few months back a midfield of Anderson, Carrick and Giggs will not do. We need a mobile midfield. I think 3 of our first choice midfield (given fitness) will be Hargreaves, Carrick and Valencia. The fourth place is up for grabs. I could see Hargreaves deployed on the left side of midfield (that's where he started his international career) with Valencia on the right. Then a CM of Carrick and Fletcher would be the obvious choice. What do you lads think?
"Macheda needs to develop greater composure and a better touch: at 17 he is still miles away being the quality United need to compete."
Matthew Savage
Crapest comment since one of Danny from Wilmslows last posts; Macheda had one decent throughball and showed supreme composure (far beyond his tender years) to round the keeper and finish with aplomb on his weaker foot. Sounds like he really needs to get his act together.
He's proving to be the best 17yr old in the world if only he can keep this up we'll be laughing!!
tooth&claw
I understand what you say but I'm sure that you will share with me the sense that we look lacklustre in midfield and I don't really see where our inspiration will come from. Giggs and Scholes sometimes show some invention but are probably too old to get up and down too often. Fletcher, Gibson and Park, whilst athletic and industrious are 'honest plodders' who can do a job but don't expect too much in the opposition box. Carrick is too slow on the ball and, because of his lack of pace, is reluctant to venture beyond the half way line whilst employed in the holding role. Ando looks good at times but does his best work in a crowded midfield - once he gets near the opposition box, his composure seems to disappear. If Owen Hargreaves comes back, he can do the holding role very well but where do we get goals from the midfield from? If you think of the goals contribution people like 'Slugger' Gerrard and Lampard make to their sides we are starting with a disadvantage. If the opposition know they only have to crowd out two forwards (from Rooney, Berbatov, Macheda & Owen), it will take a supreme effort to get back our mantle of League top scorers. Don't get me wrong, I'm not pessimistic about the coming season but I do feel the middle is our weakest link by far. Any thoughts?
AMAZING couple of pre season friendlies and all is forgotten.How different from the high pressure of the PREM where both Rooney and Berba missed countless sitters with their weak heading.Watch Gibson if given the same length of chance as Fletcher with the strength of his shooting
The first half was just a stroll but the second half was very entertaining when we raised our game to a better level. I know it was just an exercise in fitness but I was very disappointed in Anderson again. He just doesn't look like the same player of two years ago. His passing was very poor. On the plus side Gibson played well as did Fabio and Machedo and Nani also looks to have raised his level again. Owen is beginning to look the part and it was nice to see Berbatov on the scoresheet. Their goalscorer Dejan had an excellent game and caused our defence all sorts of trouble. Looking forward to Sunday's game.
Matthew Savage at 15:15,clear off. You must be a bitter, or you've no idea about developing United talent. Aged 17,that finish was first class. He will make mistakes, he's 17 for goodness sakes, but what I've seen from this tour so far..we've got a gem.