Manchester United secured victory against Otelul Galati - but it was a far from routine Champions League night in Bucharest for the Reds.
After an uninspiring first half, Wayne Rooney put United ahead from the penalty spot after on 64 minutes after Otelul skipper Sergiu Costin had handled the ball.
Nemanja Vidic was sent off shortly after for a tackle on Gabriel Giurgiu before Milan Perendija was sent off for the home side late on for a second bookable offence.
And Rooney added the second with another penalty in stoppage time after he had been fouled by Liviu Antal.
Hope
Publicly United admitted that the Group C draw they were handed in August in Monaco was the best they could have hoped for.
Privately they could have been forgiven for thinking the pairings was as good as a bye for a side who had made it all the way to the Wembley showpiece last May.
But the Reds have never been keen on making life easy for themselves.
The wins have dried up and they went into this game with three out of their last four matches having ended in stalemate.
Stoke, Basel and Liverpool have all quietened the previously rampant Reds.
The collapse against the Swiss at Old Trafford from a seemingly impregnable lead, added to the 1-1 result in Lisbon against Benfica at the start of the Euro campaign has meant this group has turned from nailed on to a nail biter.
Unknown Otelul Galati’s temporary European HQ is an impressive bowl of a stadium worthy of the Europa Cup final being hosted here next May.
But it is Munich Allianz Arena that is in the Reds sights.
However, there was no doubt vast improvements had to be made in order to avoid coming back here becoming the consolation prize.
United looked anything but destined for Germany in seven months’ time in a dreary first half.
Fergie’s plan to beef up his attack with Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez to ensure success in this “must win” match never get off the ground in the opening 45 minutes.
Invention
United lacked the penetration and invention to give the Anglo-Mexican spearhead the ammo to fire the bullets.
The Reds also began looking ropey at the back with Vidic playing his first United match since the Premier League opener at West Brom.
The captain’s misplaced 12th minute pass gifted Punosevac a chance and then the Serb got in the way of an Anders Lindegaard clearance.
It wasn’t the return to inspire confidence in yet another changed back four and United never looked happy against the Romanian champions who had a small backing from their fans who’d made the 120 mile trip to the capital.
Punosevac had another opportunity and Fergie was grateful the striker seemed to go rubber-legged everytime his glory moment presented itself.
Ioan Filip came close and a head over from a corner by Liviu Antal also had United’s loyal band of followers looking on in horror.
Michael Carrick’s blasted one side footed effort over the bar from just 12 yards eased the growing concern but the manner in which the midfielder messed up the golden chance didn’t bode well either.
United needed a lucky break and they got it when Rooney’s 64th minute cross struck the hand of defender Sergiu Costin. It wasn’t contested and Rooney confidently struck home the penalty.
But that age old United trait for avoiding the easy route reared its ugly head.
Before United could enjoy the relief of the opener they were back under the cosh when Vidic went in high on Gabriel Giurgiu and received a red card.
Only when numerical advantage was evened up when Perendija received a second yellow in the 89th minute was a degree of comfort restored and Rooney’s second penalty was greeted with relief.
United just about avoided registering their worst ever Champions League start but this was largely unimpressive.
What is your verdict on the game? Have your say.
Otelul Galati 0 Manchester United 2
October 18, 2011
Comments
Login or Register to comment
Glad that game is over!
Job done. Now for the next game.
The red card doesn't bother us. Vidic is ready for the real games.
What a BORING game!
I'll take the win but we played as if we had lead boots on in the first half against a team we should have beaten easily. First the good, Smalling, Nani, Anderson and Carrick. Yes that's right Carrick, he played quite well. Now the bad, Rooney, Chic and Valencia. Can Valencia be more one-dimensional? Is he afraid to run at peole now? Too easy to defend him now, all you have to do is sit on his right leg and he becomes useless. Other than putting away the two penalties Rooney and Chic were absent all night. Wow! what does Berbatov have to do to get on the pitch.
that was never a sending off,if that was a red card then what about the deliberate handball for the first penalty?.
as for the game,thought it was another poor performance from the team again.valencia,rooney,anderson and nani all looked very poor. pick of the bunch was valencia,he has now been found out,he really is useless as winger,a winger must be able to beat his man now and then with some trickery but valencia has none! all he can do is just run in straight lines.
we must get cleverly back to get some creativety back in the team,as with carrick its all about side pass,back pass,and side pass again! did you see that attempt at goal by carrick? even my gran could have scored that!.
Where the hell has the free flowing football gone? Poor game.
Worst performance by united - especially carrick and Rafael is not the right back united wanted... He must be for sale..
utd were suspose to dominate this group - yet results and performance show how lucky utd are to be still in with a chance.. 2 pens tonight a soft handball as ususal and then a tackle that shrek played for - dirty player - no chnace of scoring so play for a pen .. absolutely rubbish - derby this week only sad thing is the chattenborg utd ref - but i know City are stronger now and against 12 men we should be good enough to win .. at OT - theater of losses .. Come on City - we did a UTD tonight scored in last mins we are destined for glory this year - mark my words ..
I am struggling to write much positivism about tonight’s match, and that is most unusual for me. It wasn’t one of our better displays but I hope that lessons have been learned all round, and will be corrected for Sunday’s forthcoming match?
Man of the match? That is not a difficult one - Rooney - well he did score two, didn’t he?
Actually, what on Earth am I writing? I am beginning to sound like one of our usual moaners and groaners. We ‘flipping’ WON 2 - 0 and three points gained ensuring better progress to the knockout stage. Now I feel much better!
United ‘til I die!
Competent performance, terrible referee, forgetful and very boring game.
Main thing.......
Job done.
Terrible play , what has happended to our team ???
Where is the passion and the fire !??
Come on lads !
You gotta beat liddle citeh on Sunday ................................................
I have to ask, has valencia been spending time with carrick?? he used to run and terrorise defenders, now he just passes back all the time!!
Still, 3 points away from home, job done tonight, lets get ready for Sunday, should be interesting
Don't worry, after we beat the blues on The Long Awaited Derby Sunday, the morale will come back up.
Poor performance. Not a single player had a good game. Carrick was better than the rest, which isn't saying much. Rooney, despite his two goals, did not do much.
Anyway, just the group stages, it's about getting the points on board to qualify.
Poor performance. Not a single player had a good game. Carrick was better than the rest, which isn't saying much. Rooney, despite his two goals, did not do much.
Anyway, just the group stages, it's about getting the points on board to qualify.
Just what is happening at OT? We looked like 11 strangers,it must rank has one of our worst CL game for a long while .there was no cohesion in any part ot the pitch .What concerns me more is that football is not a game you can turn on and off like a tap .At this rate i fear not only for Sunday but also for the Aldershot game .We are playing that poorly of late is there some other reason??
Horrible game to watch. I think Fergie is making too many changes this season, 6,7,8 changes every game. Carrick and Anderson played really well. Stupid challenge by Vidic, but the red card was very harsh. But 3 points, another win, another clean sheet
(15 in the last 21 Champions League away games!!!) and Rooney becomes the leading English goal scorer in Champions League history with his 25th & 26th goals. I've had worse nights! Looking forward to Sunday ;)
How about bringing £8.2m BeBe in up front against City ?.
There wasn't a single positive note to take out of that performance.
It is only a matter of time before all these openings we give away are going to result in a creaming or two.
Anybody who thinks we can carry on getting carved up right down the middle by every single team we play and not get punished needs a reality check.
Well done job united, as 4 me is not esea on dis match, vidic suld hve not enter in dis match at all if not 4 the penalti i dnt knw wat will apen 2day, weldun sir Rooney i salut u n also clavari u are welcm bark up united 4 life.
joking your team is in meltdown only pens can help you win - with your 12 man on Sunday clannetnburgh City will still take you down with the squad we have Its great we can now compete ? all these years waiting .. Unless the ref decides overwise .. You Know we are top of league and all I hear is you played no one good yet - and thats City Fault right ! we do the fixtures list - Sorry we can only beat the teams that are put in front of us , if it was not for a rare slip up against Fulham City would be 4 ponts ahead of you now not 2 anyway really ;looking forward to Sunday lets hope the ref does not spoli my day! Hope Fergie plays the same starting 11 as he played against the mighty Liverpool ..
Great result from not a brilliant performance. Stupidity from Vidic, who will now miss the rest of the group games? Expect better from the captain.
We do like to make life difficult for ourselves. 70% possession and few genuine chances. Still, though not many regulars on here will agree, much credit is due to Galati, who were very organised, determined and resolute.
Thats how its done rooney what a cool finisher ,as for vida im totally gobsmacked how the ref saw that as a red it was a ball viich won fair and square,he didnt touch there player and got the ball,it wasnt a hight taclke as they both went for it at the same time and height.,shocking reffing that was.
What a appalling display.
For those many of you who will come on this site and say it's the result that matters all I can say is you would be happy watching a game of tiddlywinks if one of players had a United shirt on.
For once it wasn't the central midfield that was the problem it was the attack. Everytime Valencia received the ball he stopped and turned back, which might not be so bad if he could use his left foot, then had to complete the circle and start again - I don't think he centered the ball once in the whole game. Nani is half the player when he is on the left and Rooney didn't look interested until the last 30 minutes.
I felt sorry for Chicarito - he is effective if the ball is in the 6 yard box or thro' passes (non of which happened today); he cannot beat a man one on one and although improving he's not very good at holding up the ball. His skills are completely wasted when the game is slowed down as it was by Valencia particularly and Nani. I don't know why Valencia is not palyed on the left wing - at least when he stops and turns back he would then be on his right foot to canter or pass.
Defence and center midfield, particularly Carrick, I thought played well.
Can't blame SAF for selection, it was certain players lack of skill/drive that was problem.
Poor display. Good result, When Carrick is by far the best player on the field and we won I'd expect to there to be a minimal presence from the krankies given that they've nothing tangible to complain about. Carrick played well. Fletcher, Park, Giggs, Welbeck, Rio didn't play. Keane, Robson, Ronaldo never achieved a better result in Romania Barcelona couldn't have done better. Win-win for everyone here.
An important win yes, very unconvincing and very painful to watch. As my old dad( who watched Charlton and Edwards et al) used to say, what's with this tippy tappy football. Yes their will be the fans on here who just care about a win, but SAF must be concerned about the form of his team going into the derby. Gone is the speed, creativity and ruthless that United started with. United looked very predictable with the ball trying to get it wide to Nani and Valencia with very little success and even less impact from either player, this is a scene that keeps repeating itself over and over, there needs to be some drive through that midfield and it's never going to come from Anderson he has energy but his passing is poor to say the least. I am sick of watching United make sideways passes at the halfway line. I have never seen a United team with such a lack of movement off the ball.
United can count themselves lucky if that was a better team there may well have been a repeat of the Basel game!
That was painful to watch. What is wrong with this team, they seem to have no plan, purpose, energy, desire? Looked like they couldn't be arsed for the most part. Terrible performances all throught the team, Valencia, not the player he was before his injury,and very poor tonight. Anderson, barely moved around at all, lots of times literally stood there like a statue, pigeons anyone? Poor. Rooney & Chico got nothing to work with at all. Vida looked a mess, Fabio was out to lunch most of the time. Evra played better than recently, but still got caught upfield far too much for my liking.Mind you,at least he tried to attack. Carrick had a decent game, as did Nani & Smalling, but that's about it. Better opposition, we would have been hammered. That hammering is coming, and soon. We really do flatter to deceive, so it's up to Fergie to get it sorted. There's something desperately wrong with the attitude of this squad and he needs to do something about it, and quick.