It was a fantastic result, a great defensive performance and had some tactical genius from “Sir” Steve Coppell.
With De La Cruz and Murty in the line-up, I was wondering what sort of formation Reading were going to line up with. Normally, when Reading go 4-5-1 (a rare event usually only occurring when playing United or another big team) it is Gunnarsson who comes in at the expense of the second striker. But Gunnarsson is starting the season as first choice replacement for Sidwell, so De La Cruz came into the side.
What happened was that Murty man-marked Giggs, Shorey went on Ronaldo and Duberry on Rooney. This was real man to man marking and very hard to do. Often Murty and Shorey were next to each other as they followed their men all over the place. Duberry often ended up in midfield as Rooney dropped deep to collect the ball. Most of the time, United were unable to create any great chances. Their best chance in the first half came when Ronaldo got away from Shorey, was left 1-1 against Hunt. Hunt was left for dead by some great skill and Ronaldo floated the ball to the far post. Giggs took a shot and hit the outside of the post.
One chance Rooney had ended his game. As the ball came in from wide, Rooney rose to meet the ball, Duberry as usual in close attendance. When both players came down, Duberry landed on Rooney’s foot and it turned out to be broken. Rooney limped off, and was replaced by Nani in the second half.
United had even more possession in the second half, but seemed less potent without Rooney as they had no real striker. However, Reading just couldn’t clear the ball properly as Ferdinand and Vidic kept a close eye on Kevin Doyle. It got worse when Doyle was replaced by Kitson. 37 seconds after coming on, Dave closed down Evra from a throw and mistimed his tackle, catching Evra with studs on the leg. The ref ran over as fast as his little legs could carry him and brandished the red card. It was really harsh on the forward but the tackle did look nasty. However, most people agreed it should have been yellow. In fact, I noticed that Rooney did a similar challenge on De La Cruz in the first half which was a simple foul (ok, it wasn’t such full on contact as Kitson’s but was a similar thing and the difference was in the timing not the intent).
In the end, Reading held on to get a well deserved point. I should also point out that the travelling Reading fans out sung 70-odd thousand Man United fans. I can’t wait for Wednesday night, with a home crowd in full voice and the visit of Chelsea, sure to be interesting with Jose Mourinho and Steven Hunt involved.
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