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A different Manchester United in the second half
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AP Photo/Paul Thomas
I would have paid a significant sum for a glance in the Manchester United locker room after Saturday’s draw at Everton, since Sir Alex must have said something to the extent of “what in the world happened?” –that being the edited version, of course.
After grabbing a Darren Fletcher goal in the first half to sit on top one-nil at the half (when it could have been more, as the announcers pointed out), it was a different United team on the field for the second 45. As the crowd got into it and the home club responded, you could visibly see the Reds shrink from the atmosphere. Can’t say I’ve seen that happen in a while.
There was former Everton player Wayne Rooney, who was not as active and came out soon after the questionable decision to kiss the United patch on his jersey while holding it out from his body. With the crowd already at a fever pitch, you have to think that’s not really the time for such a move.
But it was there on the field, too. Wes Brown simply overran a ball that led to a good Everton chance, and Rio Ferdinand tried his best to gift the go-ahead goal by nearly whiffing a back-pass to Edwin van der Sar, leaving the keeper on his own from point-blank range where he managed to parry the shot just far enough wide to bounce off the post.
And there was the normally impenetrable Nemanja Vidic getting outleaped on the cross for the equalizer in the 63rd by Marouane Fellaini.
Then Cristiano Ronaldo received two good opportunities in the final 10 minutes, only to have one deflected and shoot wide on the other when perhaps he had more time to bring the ball under control. At the same time, Dimitar Berbatov disappeared for much of the second half except for drawing a few fouls.
In the end, it was really just a surprising response from a United team that has seemed to be steadily progressing into prime form lately. On a weekend where either Chelsea or Liverpool will be dropping points (maybe both), they missed a golden chance to capitalize.
