Football Dissected

Manchester United are now only one point away from retaining the Premier League title, after their hard-fought victory over Wigan at the JJB Stadium. However, Wigan didn’t make it easy for them.

The first half was dominated by Manchester United in terms of possession, yet it was Wigan who went in at half-time 1-0 up. Wigan, playing a 4-5-1 formation, set out their stall straightaway, getting 10 men behind the ball whenever United were in possession. The first chance of the game fell to Wigan’s much-sought-after Antonio Valencia after just a minute. Exploding through the United defence with his electrifying pace, Valencia, one-on-one with Edwin van der Sar, appeared to attempt a lob over the veteran goalkeeper, only for Nemanja Vidić to upset his balance enough for the lob to go well wide. The heavens soon opened up, the rain thrashing down against the evening sky.

United first real chance fell to Wayne Rooney. After some great play from Dimitar Berbatov, the Bulgarian was able to provide a delightful pinpoint cross to the head of Rooney, only for the header to go wide. Ronaldo was then adjudged to be offside by the referee’s assistant when replays showed Wigan’s Mario Melchiot might have just played him on.

Wigan kept defending, the midfield trio of Cattlemole, Brown and Scharner protecting the back-four with great on-the-ball pressure. Cattlemole, despite a few occasions of handling the ball, led the midfield pressure, his engine seemingly going for the full 90 minutes. United though, maintained their grip on possession, gilding the ball around the grass with neat interchanges. Their passing soon allowed them to create another chance. Michael Carrick’s late burst into the box from midfield saw the midfielder’s deflected shot go just over the crossbar.

Then, completely against the run of play, Wigan score. Lee Cattlemole thumps a long-ball into the United box and both Hugo Rodallega and Nemanja Vidic go up for it. As the ball loops over Vidic, the Serbian loses his footing and Rodallega fires it into the back of the net to give Wigan the lead.

Even Ronaldo’s hissy fit goes largely unnoticed. The Portuguese is tackled brilliantly by Lee Cattlemole and Ronaldo throws his arms in disbelief at not getting a free-kick from referee Rob Styles. Yet United maintained possession, with a 64-34 percentage ratio in their favour. And another chance soon followed for the Red Devils. A neat, quick passing sequence between Berbatov, Anderson and Ronaldo created an opening for Rooney, only for the England striker’s shot to go wide. Wigan continuously take the game to United on the counter-attack. Right before half-time they have the opportunity to make it 2-0, only for Rodallega’s left-footed strike to go wide of the far post.

The second half largely resumed where the first half ended, with United controlling possession of the ball with a seemingly iron-fist. The first fifteen minutes continued without any major incidents, only for the fact that Wigan’s goalkeeper Richard Kingson had yet to make a save. But that soon changed as Sir Alex ringed in changes. Anderson departed and Carlos Tevez, in the middle of a storm of media interest surrounding his future, arrived to the fight as the Fab Four attempted to turn the game around as they did against Tottenham several weeks ago. And it wasn’t long before United were back level. Michael Carrick was allowed to much time to get his shot away and his powerful right-footed striker, which was going wide, was neatly found by Tevez, who flicked the ball past Kingson to equalise. And it could have been two within a matter of minutes if Tevez hadn’t been adjudged to be offside by the referee’s assistant. Replays showed he appeared to be played onside by Wigan’s left-back Maynor Figueroa.

Veteran Paul Scholes normally superb passing though, was kept silence for the majority of the game as Wigan constantly put him under pressure. This observation, combined with the fact that he’s now 34 years old, resulted in Sir Alex bringing the midfielder off for another United legend, Ryan Giggs.

As the clock ticked, as Wigan attempted to maintain their constant pressure, United were beginning to find cracks in the Wigan’s defence. The Fab Four were now continuously interchanging positions, opening up the game some more. But 90 minutes of constantly pressuring a team like United is always a difficult task. As the game went on, one could see the Wigan players’ legs beginning to feel the strain from the game. And tired legs usually leads to tired minds. So there’s an air of inevitability surrounding Michael Carrick’s winner minutes from the end. Out on the right wing, Ronaldo, faced by two Wigan players, played a simple pass to John O’Shea who had made a fantastic run into the penalty box from deep. O’Shea played the ball back towards the edge of the box where it found Michael Carrick who superbly controlled his left-footed strike to take United within a point of clinching their 18th league title.