Last night, Bayern Munich knocked out Manchester United from the UEFA Champions League 2010. According to me, Man U lost because of 4 main reasons: 1. Very poor defending by Evra at the end of the 1st leg (that allowed Olic to score their 2nd goal), 2. Rafael's immaturity, 3. Sir Alex's shocking decision to not substitute a striker for 20-25 minutes, 4. Brilliant strike by Robben.
Rafael should have applied some common sense. Exuberance of Youth is fine, but not at the cost of sanity and thus - the trophy. In a way, his exit from the pitch started United's downfall. Soon after his exit, Fergie substituted O'Shea for Rooney and then Manchester were without a striker until Berbatov was brought into the game for Carrick around the 80th minute. Those interim 20 minutes between these 2 substitutions won Bayern the tie and will probably take them to the Bernabeu. For those 20 minutes, Nani, who probably had the best game of his life, was made the makeshift striker and was wandering near the half line waiting for the ball to come to him, but it never did. Bayern dominated possession, Ribery and Robben were persistently bombarding the United back line and then Robben did what he's been doing for Bayern this whole year, winning them the game, with his unbelievably precise volley.
The 80th minute substitution of Berbatov was a mere formality and most people knew that Berbatov has not been able to make an impact in a 90 minute game this whole season, so expectations of him turning it around for Man U in the last 10 were low, to say the least.
Where do United go from here? I'd say - the transfer market. Sir Alex has got to bring in new capable talent. Man U cant be expected to win the same trophies they won with Ronaldo and Tevez without them or without suitable replacements. Berbatov is no Tevez, Valencia, though brilliant, is not Ronaldo. Gabriel Obertan & Mame Biram Diouf have had amongst the most disappointing debuts and Paul Pogba hasnt been seen on the pitch so far. Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Van Der Sar will retire either this season or at most the next. Park, Carrick, Evra & Hargeaves (if & when he finally returns) will soon touch 30. Berbatov is hardly a striker. He is so languid and ruins the pace of Man U's natural game. He occasionally displays amazing technique and wizardry but 'occassionally' is not good enough when you play for a club like Manchester United. Owen has been more unfit than fit for the past many years. So Rooney, Nani and Valencia are the brightest prospects of the future but they need to be complemented by more solid players. Even if money is a problem for MUFC (according to the recent revelations about their debt and the consequent uproar against the Glazers), their authorities have always claimed that Fergie has the money he got from the Ronaldo sale and possibly also the Tevez sale. The two combined were sold for over 120 million and that should be more than sufficient for the great man - Sir Alex to bring in good talent.
Talking about who he should bring in, this is one aspect of Sir Alex's managerial skills that I deeply admire and respect. He does not have a capitalistic mindset when it comes to buying players. He'll never splash exuberant amounts on 'stars'. He buys reasonably priced players who are not stars and turns them into superstars. No one knew about Fletcher, Carrick, Evra, Park, Valencia, Ronaldo etc before they came to MUFC and became what they became. According to transfer rumours and speculations, MU have been linked with strikers like Villa, Benzema, Hulk and Di Maria; midfielders like Joe Cole, David Silva and Franck Ribery and Goalkeepers like Akinfeev, Lloris, Neuer and Lopez. Douglas Costa of Gremio too has been a long sought after target. Man U need at least one goalkeeper (Van Der Sar is almost 40, Kuszczak is good but not great, Foster is painfully inconsistent), two midfielders - preferably one center midfielder and one winger, a right back (if Neville retires, then Rafael will be the only good RB they are left with) and at least one striker. If this wasnt exciting and interesting enough, the other top 3 - Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool too are looking at a major overhaul of their sides. In fact, this season the EPL has been far better for the 5th-10th place sides as compared to the top 4. How much of this actually happens, if it happens, who comes in, and what happens once they come in will be very interesting to watch and will have great consequences on the future of the greatest football club in the World - Manchester United.
