Manchester United almost deserved to lose last night. Unforgiveable to throw away a 2-0 lead that came from two quickfire goals early in the game. Credit to Basel though, they played well throughout and always looked like they could trouble United. Some poor defending though over a 15 minute period really let them in and they deserved to be 3-2 up. Chelsea did the same not so long ago, exposed the defence of the United team but didn't have the same clinical finishing that Basel obviously had. Evident in the Torres miss. I don't think the problem is a weak defence, Ferdinand, Vidic, Jones, Evra, Smalling, Evans and Rafael are all good players. Perhaps they're just a little disjointed at the moment or perhaps they lack leadership from a strong goalkeeper. Bring the defence up to the same form as the attack and they will rip teams apart.
On the other side of town though...City lose to an impressive Bayern Munich side who're in good form themselves and they expose the backroom dramas on the field with Dzeko not wanting to be substituted and Tevez apparently not wanting to take part. Dzeko has been given a final warning from Mancini and Tevez has been told he has absolutely no place in the team, despite him denying that he refused to play. That's the problem when you buy a new team of individuals. Chelsea's rise to success was somewhat slower than what City are trying to achieve, Ranieri was in charge when Abramovich took over and he kept most of the original team.
Originally posted by MacStripey:can't believe what's going wrong with Dortmund. they definitely are in a downward phase, both Bundesliga and international
Very remarkable indeed, too bad, they were so good last season.
A comment on the predictions this week. There are "2"s everywhere. Will be interesting to see if any teams shows what home field advantage means and surprises us.