Zenit too strong for United

Image from Setanta

Man Utd 0-1 Zenit St. Petersberg

A ten man United team lost to Uefa Cup holders Zenit in Friday’s Super cup tie.

First Half:

The Russians were dominating possesion for most the first half as Zenit took the lead when Pavel Pogrebnyak scored from close range just before the interval. Zenit gave United defence a torrid time with Patrive Evra and Gary Neville always out of position. Zenit’s counter attacking style and flair showed as Konstantin Zyryanov and Aleksandr Anyukov set up two great chances but Pogrebnyak couldn’t convert. United’s best chance was when the brilliant Carlos tevez ran down the right wing and layed it off to Rooney but didn’t judge it and went under his legs.

Second Half:

United were hoping to pull a goal back but new boy Danny scored a superb goal as he foiled the whole backtracking United defence. With O’shea and Park coming on United showed enthusiasm late on as o’shea and Tevez had good chances. With United’s best 20 minutes of the match came a Vidic goal from a corner. Nani swang one in with Rooney controlling then finding Tevez who layed it off for Vidic too score. But they were still frustrated as showed by Paul Scholes who handled the ball for his second booking. Zenit then eased for the last 5 minutes and deservedly won the game.

Manchester United: Edwin van der Sar 6, Gary Neville 4.5 [Wes Brown 76, 5.5], Rio Ferdinand 6, Nemanja Vidic 6.5, Patrice Evra 6, Darren Fletcher 5.5 [John O’Shea 60, 6.5], Anderson 5.5 [Park Ji-Sung 60, 6], Paul Scholes 5.5, Nani 4.5, Wayne Rooney 6.5, Carlos Tevez 7.5.

Zenit St Petersburg: Vyacheslav Malafeev 6.5, Ivica Krizanac 6 [Vladislav Radimov 70, 6], Alexander Anlukov 6.5, Sebastien Puygrenier 6 [Roman Shirokov 62, 5], Radek Shirl 6.5, Konstatin Zyranov 6.5, Danny 8.5*, Igor Denisov 6.5, Anatoli Tymoschuk 6.5, Pavel Pogrebnyak 7.5 , Alejandro Dominguez 6 [Andrei Arshavin 46, 6.5].

Man of the Match: Danny- What a super signing. Worth his 25m price tag he ran the United defence ragged and deserved a goal.

Flop of the Match: Nani- He should have gone off and had no end product with feeble crosses. He was forlorn and i’m starting to think that he is a waste of money.

Battle of the match: Carlos Tevez-Zenit: He seemed like the only player who played for a team who won the champions league last year. His work rate was superb he just couldn’t get the same from his players. Zenit were only playing Carlos Tevez United for most of the match. We need a new striker and Ronaldo back.