Manchester United travelled to Europe looking for a bigger return but after rotating and resting, managed to gain just 1 point. The reds looked a little staid in their output, Carrick and Fletcher not linking play well. The defence of United was solid and as is common over the last few seasons in Europe and never really looked too flustered. Benfica pressed hard for most of the game and broke through with a top quality strike after some lovely footwork from their forward man.
Well I watched the game at home and it was a bit rubbish to be honest, we didn't look like scoring and Wazza looked a bit frustrated at times. I can understand why as the midfield I felt, wasn't composed or positive enough. Too many balls were hoofed up to an isolated Wayne Rooney. Park and Valencia really couldn't get forward in wide areas as the midfield couldn't find them in space. There weren't many overlapping runs from our full-backs either. The result was less than 5 crosses into danger areas. This may not have been so bad but our short passing and movement in the centre of the pitch was lacking.
Anyway it didn't depress me as much as writing all that! On the plus, Rooney grafted hard as ever whilst Lindegaard was solid showing excellent distribution. Jones, Smalling and Evans were also reliable at the back even though Evans was turned for the Benfica goal.
After the first round of games here are the group standings.
UEFA Champions League 2011/12 group stage standings.
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