Crowd shouts for Keane as hapless United lose
Lille 1 Manchester United 0
Roy Keane’s recent attack on his Manchester United colleagues seemed more than justified tonight, as a lacklustre defeat pushed the former champions’ season to the brink of total meltdown.
Milenko Acimovic’s 37th-minute winner did not just leave United’s European aspirations hanging by a thread, and bring new owner Malcolm Glazer out into a cold sweat, it also raised serious doubts over Sir Alex Ferguson’s motivational qualities.
In days gone by, United would have responded to the torture of the past seven days by ravaging opponents with skill, speed and spirit.
Yet tonight, when they needed it most, all three elements were missing.
Two years, 12 months, even six months ago, the prospect of Ferguson not being allowed to choose the time of his own departure from a club he has served so royally, would have been dismissed without a thought.
The likelihood of Glazer sacking Ferguson is still highly unlikely but as every catastrophe, every crumbling defeat, every shambolic performances follows another, the prospect is gaining weight.
Ferguson has faced many moments of potential crisis during his illustrious Old Trafford reign and come out smiling on most occasions.
Humiliating defeats such as the one at Middlesbrough last weekend have been an occupational hazard for the feisty Scot.
Never has Ferguson been forced to contend with his side being savaged from within, especially by the man who has been the heartbeat of Old Trafford for well over a decade.
The full extent of Keane’s vicious attack will probably never be known but there were at least five members of Ferguson’s injury-ravaged starting line-up who would have felt the wrath of the Irishman’s tongue had United chief executive David Gill allowed the interview to go on air.
Five thousand visiting fans made their feelings on the matter plain, bellowing Keane’s name throughout the opening minutes and then, tellingly at the end, in support of their captain, who was intending to go public with an assessment of a team many supporters feel is well below the standard expected at Old Trafford.
With runaway Premiership leaders Chelsea heading to Old Trafford on Sunday smelling blood, the hordes who made the journey to the French capital watched on hoping for a sign that a brutal kill at the hands of Jose Mourinho’s men could be avoided. They didn’t get it.
For 38 minutes they at least were able to cheer on a semblance of a team, rather than the disorganised rabble who succumbed to meekly on Teesside.
It was solid, rather than spectacular stuff, with Kieran Richardson looking good in central midfield and Wes Brown’s introduction at centre-half at least bringing some beef to United’s defence.
But Lille were the more convincing attacking force, so when United’s world began to cave in seven minutes from the break it was not that much of a surprise.
The irony came in the knowledge that Wayne Rooney, one man totally exempt from criticism, should be the man who gifted the home side their chance.
A woeful pass rolled beyond the helpless John O’Shea and set Gregory Tafforeau running free down the left.
The Lille skipper’s cross was perfect for Acimovic, whose first touch took him between Wes Brown and Mikael Silvestre and gave him just enough time to blast the French side’s first goal of this Champions League campaign the top corner before Edwin van der Sar could make the block.
It was a shuddering blow to a side low on confidence and left Ferguson needing to deliver a team talk as rousing as any in his entire career at half-time.
The immediate response was not encouraging as Lille continued to carve out the better opportunities and only poor finishing from Tafforeau, whose run had been inexcusably left unchecked by Cristiano Ronaldo, and a brilliant Van der Sar save to deny Geoffrey Dernis prevented United falling further behind.
Ferguson’s side at least went close just before the hour mark when Ronaldo planted a header against the underside of the bar, only for Efstathios Tavlaridis to hack the rebound away.
More woeful finishing, this time from Matt Moussilou, who nodded over from six yards despite being completely unmarked, kept alive United’s hopes of salvaging a draw.
But this time, there was no thrilling finish – only a dispute between Van Nistelrooy and Tavlaridis and a sad, tame surrender.
A clearly weary Alex Ferguson claimed a poor pitch at the Stade de France did not help his side.
Ferguson said: “It was a difficult game actually, it was a scrappy affair. The pitch didn’t help either side.
“I think it was a matter of who scored first.
“It was difficult to get the ball down, it was a poor pitch.
“We are not in the best form anyway and we must fight through this.
“No-one will help us in that respect, we must help ourselves, we don’t want to feel sorry for ourselves.
“I don’t think we deserved to lose but we have to regroup.
United are now third in their group behind Villarreal and Lille, with the Spanish club due to visit Old Trafford next.
“The home match against them will be important but our home form over the years has been terrific and it’s going to have to be now,” he added.
With United’s strikeforce misfiring, Ferguson conceded: “It is a concern because most of the time we make chances. In league games this season we have missed a lot of chances but hopefully we have the players who can get that back.”
Ferguson claimed United were “getting to grips with the game” before they went behind.
“We got ourselves dragged towards it. I thought the lad took it well, he got a toe over Edwin van der Sar,” he added.
“They tried their best, they lost the goal when we were getting to grips with the game.
“The second half was spent mostly in their half but we didn’t get that break; we hit the bar and we were a bit unlucky when (Park) Ji-Sung went through and the boy pulled his jersey and we didn’t get that decision.
“But these are half-chances and we aren’t getting them.
“When you lose games, your confidence does get affected but you have to pull through it. In this period our best form is not there. As a human being, you have to gather yourself and regroup, show determination to put it right and hopefully the character is revealed.
“Ability-wise, the Old Trafford pitch is far superior than what we have seen tonight.”
Next up are Premiership leaders Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday.
“It’s not an easy game because Chelsea have been in outstanding form, they are top of the league and they are on merit,” Ferguson added.
“The most important thing is to bring back confidence, bring back the winning habit and, looking at the Champions League, we want to qualify.”
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