Late Young Show Follows Recent Trend
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September 28, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Manchester United’s last minute goal saves them from upset, which appears to have become a strong pattern for Ferguson’s Side.
Current Swiss hero Thorsten Fink, who was responsible for keeping his Basel side on top of Group C, began to revel in nostalgia for a similar game that lurked in the past.
United clinched the 1999 Champions League title with two stoppage time goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He might of felt that the tables might be turning, he was wrong, as Young slipped in a 90th minute equaliser.
Although Man United potentially threw the game away, having sailed away with a two-goal lead thanks to Danny Welbeck’s two goals in a minute, they still got out of jail free. Don’t forget, United did drop three points in this game for 15 minutes, still managing to scavenge a point out of the match at the death.
The game was awarded an astronomical six minutes of stoppage time for reasons unknown, with United having three or four very close attempts at taking the lead after the game should already have been drawn to a close with the final whistle and the players should already have been back in the changing rooms.
Another recent match that springs to mind is when Nani’s dramatic goal in the last minute of the Community Shield helped poach a 3-2 victory off of Manchester City from a game United had been all but written off in at half time. Despite this being the opposite to what happened yesterday evening, it just goes to prove how good United are at bringing back a game from the grave.
However familiar the public are with United’s late reprieves, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson spoke out in fury last night, saying; “I thought there was a carelessness about us throughout the game. The attacking part of our game was very good at times and there was some good football, particularly in the first half.”
The United chief added; “There was some carelessness that cost us, though, and Basel could have scored three or four goals in the first half. We were lax for most of the game.”
This is a mantra United have been plagued with at different times, and one that has frustrated Fergie in press conferences. Poor defending nearly cost United an important match, which is a shame when you consider their huge firepower up front, even without the injured Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez.
By Josh Williams
[Image courtesy of Andrea Sartorati]
