United v. Villarreal: Live Blog

By: Taylor Rockwell | November 25th, 2008

Full time: And they do. Another nil-nil draw sees both sides through to the knockout stage. So, Match Day 6 will decide who ends up top and who comes in second. My guess, though, is that AaB at home should be a fairly easy one, so expect United to once again leave the group stage at the top of the table.

Not the most impressive match. In fact, it was a fairly boring affair. Both sides seemed fairly content with a draw, and Fergie appeared happy to let that contentment play out. Hopefully, that complacency won’t have ramifications this weekend against City.

I would love to see us come out and smash the Middle Eastlands, but I fear that our recent record of performances could indicate another poor performance. Hopefully, whatever went wrong today gets righted, and United pull in three points this weekend. See you next time!

90+3′ – Not much left now… Villarreal just trying to hang on…

88′ – O’Shea with a “stellar” ball in… stellar, of course, meaning directly into an opponent…

… not to outdone, Park then crosses directly into the keeper’s hands… Ronaldo continues to look furious about the goings on…

… and it’s now AaB 2 – Celtic 1… why does Celtic refuse to do anything away? I’m sure their supporters wouldn’t mind too much…

85′ – Tommy Smyth may piss himself with excitement about why Tevez isn’t on yet… and my earlier theory is blown to hell as Tevez enters the match for Carrick… only 20 minutes too late to have any impact…

82′ – And Capdevila is OFF WITH A RED CARD! Studs up and high to the knee from the Spanish defender… so the Amarilla Submarine are down to 10 men…

… and Fergie just gave me an aneurysm as Park appears to be coming on… I hate my life…

… Park on, Nani off… let’s see if the first touches can get even worse… my guess: probably…

80′ – A near own goal avoided by Villarreal… Rooney with a great run and deflected shot… headed out of the goal by Capdevila…

… and now it’s Gibson on for Fletcher, while Tevez sits alone and cries…

… I suppose the obvious answer here is that Fergie has decided to settle for the draw, so it no longer makes sense to put on another forward. Rooney is playing OK, so it wouldn’t really make sense to waste a sub on him. So, Tevez continues to sit… in silent, brooding fury….

77′ – My highlight of the game just happened: Evra standing still, hands above his head, screaming for the ball for a full 30 seconds… awesome ball movement boys…

… and it’s Celtic 1 – AaB 1…

…. did I mention that there are less than 15 minutes left, and Fergie still hasn’t made a change? What is going on with Fergie? Apparently, Villarreal heard my pleas, and utilized their final substitution just to infuriate me further…

75′ – Slave definitely starting to get worked up… screaming at Carrick for the ball, then gesticulating wildly when it doesn’t come his way…

71′ – Tevez looks to be coming on… and why the hell has it taken this long? Is Fergie this happy with a draw, or does he have that little faith in Carlitos?

I suppose that question will be answered if he pulls off Rooney…

69′ – Villarreal counter broken up by O’Shea… that looked dangerous for a second…

65′ – Great ball in from Villarreal, but nothing comes of it… the Amarilla Submarine just misses a chance to take the lead…

64′ – Holy crap! Rossi is from new Jersey! Astounding! Can you tell Tommy/Derek are running out of things to say?

63′ – Anderson answers my comment by…. SURPRISE… firing another straight into the keeper’s legs…

61′ – Good left-footed drive from Anderson… straight at the keeper… I’m beginning to wonder if the young Brazilian is actively trying not to hurt opposing keepers’ feelings…

60′ – Attacking throw-in to United… when will we see some changes made?

59′ – Celtic have scored against Aab. If United win here, there’s still a lot to play for.

- Fletcher tries (and fails) to endear himself to his Scottish compatriots by firing on goal. It scoots wide, and we’re still 0-0.

- Rossi is starting to pick up some confidence against this United defense, which could soon be a serious issue.

53′ – United moving the ball well. Villarreal clearly hoping to get a point out of this one.

Ronaldo with a yellow card after protesting a bullshit call against him.

51′ – Slave with a great push forward and a rocket of a shot… and a possible penalty goes uncalled…

48′ – Random point: I was a big fan of Gerard Pique, but Jonny Evans has done a lot to make me feel pretty comfortable with United having sold him. Evans has looked a capable defender time and time again this season. Plus, he doesn’t hate on us for eating burgers and drinking beers.

46′ – Nani forces his way into the Villarreal box and wins a corner… cleared away…

- Second half is underway…

Halftime: Not much to say really. A pretty sloppy half on the whole… some good endeavor from Nani, Anderson, Evra, Rooney, and Slave, but not a lot happening as a team. Carrick and O’Shea look like they could use some rest, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rafael and Giggs make appearances in the second half. Hopefully, United can start stringing together some passes on a consistent basis. The few times they have, they have produced decent opportunities. Let’s hope for a more stirring second half effort.

So, Senna is off, and Bruno is on… I didn’t know Villarreal employed an Ali G alter-ego… good to know…

45′ – An angry Marcos Senna is demanding a quick sub. Good news for United.

42′ – Late tackle on Slave. Free kick United. Given the rip he just had, expect this shot to have some heat behind it… low, driven take to the far corner… Lopez gets hands to it, and it’s out for a corner…

Loose ball… freekick to Villarreal after Jonny Evans murders a Yellow Submarine player

41′ – Diego Lopez just saved the half for Villarreal. Great ball in from Ando is settled for #7 by Rooney. Slave has crack, and the keeper just gets a touch to it. That’s the flowing play I’ve been missing.

In case you’re wondering, our bench is Ji-Sung Park, Carlos Tevez, Ben Foster, Darron Gibson, Ryan Giggs, Rafael, and Nemanja Vidic. My money is on Tevez, Giggs, and Park/Rafael to make appearances in the near future.

38′ – Miscommunication between O’Shea and Anderson… more sloppy play… passing isn’t nearly as sharp as one would have hoped with this starting XI…

35′ – Fletcher with a solid volley, but again, straight at the keeper…

33′ – Good bit of passing negated by an errant O’Shea handball… I believe first touch is the name of the game this evening…

31′ – Freekick for Villarreal… Rossi with some quick footwork gets taken down by Rio… did anyone know he was originally from New Jersey? I bet so, because Tommy Smyth just said it 18 times in 11 seconds…

29 ‘ – Freekick for United from about 30 yards out… Slave looks set… Good strike, but right at the keeper… nothing comes of it…

29′ – Carrick looking slow again… two poor passes, one leading to a quick counter… he looks off his game thus far…

24′ – So we’re still doing the hole backheel thing, huh?

22′ – Carrick’s first touch has looked a bit dull tonight… he seems to be having trouble going with speed…

- As if to answer, he then gets megged from 30 yards… trouble ahead?

21′ – Counter fails when Rooney slips, falls, and then promptly lights up a cigarette… I believe he swears a good bit as well there…

20′ – Evra pushing up a considerable amount… he seems to be creating some problems for the Villarreal right side, so I’m ok with it… unfortunately, he continues to wear gloves at every possible moment… sigh…

18′ – Good shot from Villarreal… Kuszczak has trouble with it, but it’s cleared away safely…

16′ – YES! Rossi-United mention #2…

14′ – Fairly sloppy, fairly wide open game thus far… Villarreal look the more determined side thus far…

13′ – Good bit of skill from #7 to recover for some sloppy play between himself and O’Shea…

10′ – I may have gone the wrong way with Rossi… second time they’ve mentioned him being an American playing for Italy…

8′ – United with a goal disallowed from offside… great ball to Slave from Evra… no good… that call was close… Tommy says on (I’m inclined to disagree)

8′ – Slave with a shot… fires wide… he then semi-slaps at a Villarreal player… one of those nights, eh?

6′ – Rooney with a shot/cross… easily saved…

5′ – Derek Rae points out that Rooney is sitting on 99 goals… hopefully a reverse jinx…

4′ – Anderson appears to be growing a neck beard… awesome…

- Apparently, Rooney looks lonely. That’s ok with me… at least he overcame his bubonic plague

- And we’re off…

- We’ve already had out first reference to Rossi being a former United player. What’s the over/under on number of times that gets mentioned again today? I’m going to say six. We shall see…

So, this will be my second attempt to do a full live blog. Last time was the Carling Cup game against QPR. It did not go well. Amazingly, no cameras appeared to be pointed at the match until the 71st minute. Hopefully, that won’t be the case today. Anyway, seven minutes to kickoff.

If you missed it, lineup is:

29 Tomasz Kuszczak (G)
23 Jonathan Evans (CD-L)
5 Rio Ferdinand (CD-R)
3 Patrice Evra (LB)
22 John O’Shea (RB)
8 Anderson (CM)
16 Michael Carrick (LM)
24 Darren Fletcher (RM)
17 Nani (ST)
10 Wayne Rooney (LF)
7 Slave (RF)