United Pile The Pressure On - Themselves!

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Man Utd 1 - 1 Reading


Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to rest the likes of Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville, and hold other key players on the subs' bench, may have cost him dearly. Wayne Rooney was suspended so he was forcefully prevented from playing. It means that United have an extra game to fit into a busy schedule. Gary Neville, in particular was sorely missed. Although not a goal scorer, he is very much a goal maker, through accurate passing and long throwing, and he is inspirationally enthusiastic in the captaincy.


Did United miss several good chances or did Reading defend particularly well? A bit of both is the answer, and Reading fully deserve their replay and could just as easily have won it as the home side, who dominated the first half. Solskjaer, Park and Saha all missed before Carrick put them ahead in first half injury time, which is always a bad time to concede. Although Carrick competently thumped the ball home from about 25 yards, it was a touch of Ronaldo wizardry that presented the opportunity.


United's Portuguese winger was threatening again after the interval but on this occasion he was not a shooting star! One of Readings rare attacks on goal was successful, when Oster's pass connected with Gunnarsson, whose splendid header whistled home passed a bevy of United defenders. This seemed to instil a sense of urgency in Sir Alex, who called in the cavalry, with a triple substitution to try to save the day. Larsson and Saha, had good efforts saved by Federici. Then Reading very nearly snatched a late winner at the other end. So the game was drawn with Steve Coppell applauding his men off the field.


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Man Utd Vs Reading
soccer and football
Man Utd Vs Reading