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Man United’s creaky defense jeopardizing trophies
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Manchester United’s once formidable defense has leaked 10 goals in the past four matches, leaving its previously invincible back line struggling to keep the team in the race to defend its English and Champions League titles.
Before United’s frailties were exposed in a 4-1 loss to Liverpool last month, the Red Devils had conceded only 10 goals in 23 Premier League and Champions League matches stretching back to Nov. 1. Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar even set a British record by going 1,311 minutes without conceding a goal.
Those days are long gone.
“I don’t think it’s a case of players not having the confidence but maybe we’ve had so many games and also we’ve had players injured,” defender Nemanja Vidic said.
United is chasing an unprecedented five trophies this season. The three-time European champions have already won the Club World Cup and League Cup, and they face Everton in the semifinals of the FA Cup later this month.
“At this stage of the season you need all your big players to be ready,” Vidic said. “After the Liverpool game we said we had to fix it but we didn’t. Now we have to put it right.”
The injury-depleted defense was taken advantage of again Tuesday when FC Porto scored valuable away goals, leaving Old Trafford with a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. Midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo and Jonny Evans gave the ball away for Cristian Rodriguez to score the fourth-minute opener, and Mariano Gonzalez was left unmarked by Gary Neville in the 89th to equalize.
Before that, the Premier League champions had lost the match against Liverpool 4-1, fallen 2-0 at Fulham and rallied to beta Aston Villa 3-2 with two goals in the last 10 minutes.
“If you look at the last four games then obviously we haven’t played like we did in the 10 games before that. We have conceded too many,” said Vidic, who partnered Evans in central defense Tuesday. “We need to get back on the right road and we need to get back that mentality.”
The errors in the Premier League could prove less costly, since the two-time defending champions remain a point ahead of Liverpool with a game in hand. But if the team is to become the first to win back-to-back Champions League titles, it will have to become the first English club to win at Porto.
“We need to change our mentality,” said Vidic, who was being touted as a player of the year contender a month ago. “We can’t go to Porto and be stupid and go into attack with all our guns. We need to be clever.
“They have some good players, they have quick players up front and they are going to be waiting for our mistakes.”
That wasn’t something opponents were anticipating as United had rivals quaking during its record-breaking run of 14 clean sheets in the English league. That streak ended in February with a 2-1 win over Blackburn.
“We had been doing well when we were not conceding goals because of the record because we had something to protect,” United manager Alex Ferguson said. “Since we lost the record against Blackburn we’ve lost a lot of bad goals.”
Ferguson blames that in part on the congested schedule. But the team plays Saturday at Sunderland after three days without action and has another three clear days before playing the second leg at Porto.
But the already-creaky defense could remain fragile if central defenders Rio Ferdinand and Evans, who limped off with a groin injury Tuesday, remain sidelined.
“Rio was nowhere near being fit (for Porto), so it is difficult to see him being fit for Saturday,” Ferguson said. “Jonny should be OK in a week, but he is a 21-year-old lad and this is what happens when you play two big games in three days.”
Originally posted by Rob Harris at usatoday.com.
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