Two games in and isn't it obvious? For all the squad depth they have and all the confidence of Sir Alex it's pretty clear that Manchester United already misses Christiano Ronaldo, losing 1-0 at Turf Moor to Burnley today. Burnley! Sure United isn't the first big club to go up to Burnley and lose, as the Carling Cup showed last season, it's just how they lost today, for the first time in 33 years versus Burnley! In a match where they absolutely dominated the action and dominated possession they were missing one key ingredient-- some overly gelled up guy from Portugal with a tendency to bout and do Greg Louganis impressions. As a neutral I've seen this script play out endlessly over the past two years. United goes on the road and needs a big goal against a team playing ten men behind the ball. They turn to Ronaldo and he produces.
Point 1: Michael Carrick takes and misses a penalty. Come on. Would Ronaldo have missed that penalty? Owen Hargreaves can't get healthy fast enough if you're Alex Ferguson. With Lamps at Chelsea and Gerrard at Liverpool they need someone with a bit more confidence to step up there and rifle one in the back of the net.
Point 2: Following another unique United trait from the past couple of years they seem to generate a ton of chances but very little movement on the scoreboard. Create, create, create. Miss, miss, miss. To have such an abundance of shot opportunities but have only four actual shots on goal is a bit amazing and concerning all at the same time. The presence of Ronaldo, forcing defenses to account for him, would have surely produced at least one goal. They had thirteen corner attempts! And sure Burnley was playing a 10-0-0 at the end of the match, but do you blame them?
So what do we have?
We have a United club that just lost on the road to Burnley in their second match of the season. It's awful tight at the top and United needed to do to Burnley what Chelsea did to Sunderland yesterday, regroup from that early goal and go on to show the club who's boss. Unfortunately they had a keen inability to do just that. Beyond that doesn't it seem like United has a heck of a difficult time finishing? United is real adept at creating scoring chances and dominating possession but when it comes to actually finishing Sir Alex has to be a bit concerned. Nani and Valencia and Park are crafty and quick and create some exciting chances but are sorely lacking in the ability to get the ball on net.
In Other Action...
Tottenham heads up to Hull and completely play the Tigers off the pitch and continue the home misery of Phil Brown's boys with Jermaine Defoe going crazy and scoring a hat trick with Robbie Keane and Wilson Palacios chipping in. Can this actually be the year that they live up to all the hype? With a win already in hand versus Liverpool and the destruction of Hull showing they can win on the road the Spurs look like they're a lock for 5th or 6th and may even be in that Manchester City category of a club that could break the top four. After a derby versus West Ham and a home fixture versus Birmingham we'll find out real quick if they have the mustard with September matches at home versus Manchester United and at Stamford Bridge versus Chelsea. Old Harry may have a story developing here. They sure are fun to watch.
Over at Anfield Liverpool goes absolutely crazy on Stoke wiping away any memories of the Stoke upset from last year with a 4-0 thrashing. Their destruction buries my fantasy team once and for all this short week completing drubbing my fill in keeper Thomas Sorensen. Manchester United can take a little lesson from Liverpool in how to properly thrash an inferior team with an equal number of shot attempts (19) but a whole lot more shots on goal (13).
What does a couple of early season weekday matches tell us? Perhaps a lot, or perhaps not much at all. It'll be interesting to see how Manchester United react to this loss. Will it possess them to make a few more moves in the transfer market and perhaps spend some of that Ronaldo money? Of course the answer is no and of course they'll regroup and probably rip off 8 straight shutouts.
The joy of the EPL. Last weekend everyone though Liverpool was done, absolutely wiped. Now they wipe out Stoke and Manchester United are done! It's week two and we're all crazy. It's going to be a hell of a year.
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