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Wetherall exposes United's fragility
By Trevor Haylett | |
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Leeds (1) 1 Man Utd (0) 0 A FIRST defeat of the season, which would have come on Wednesday night had it not been for the intervention of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, duly arrived for Manchester United yesterday. From an Old Trafford perspective, it is to be hoped this was the insipid performance they needed to expunge from their system before Juventus arrive in the Champions' League this week. Revenge for their 4-0 demolition 12 months ago was more comfortable than Leeds could have imagined; United lacking in inspiration. David Wetherall's 34th-minute header also meant that Leeds could celebrate victory at Elland Road for the first time. Alex Ferguson's team were forced to play the last 13 minutes with only 10 men, Roy Keane having hobbled off and the three substitutes already used. Teddy Sheringham was thwarted by a stunning Nigel Martyn stop, while Solskjaer, offered the saviour's role once again in injury time, fired over the top. But the visitors did not deserve anything more than they got. So conclusive was United's last visit here, so many reverberations did it create with Howard Wilkinson's dismissal two days later and the arrival of George Graham, that it was easy to ignore the fact that it was a rare victory for the Manchester men on this ground with just a single success coming in the League in the previous six seasons. Only four of Wilkinson's final selection survived to start the return and three successive home defeats with not so much as a solitary goal to brighten the horizon was a telling statistic. Nevertheless, Leeds began on the offensive and settled themselves down with a flurry of dangerous crosses from either flank which were only a whisker short of producing a decent chance. Manchester responded with an incisive break that had Martyn grabbing at the second attempt Karel Poborsky's downward header after David Beckham had launched a searching centre from the right. Ferguson had preferred Solskjaer to Andy Cole in an attempt to supply a sharper finishing edge than had been apparent in some of their travels this season. The young Norwegian should have scored when Keane hooked back from the by-line, only to miss the ball completely. When Garry Kelly was allowed room to claim a far-post header, an effort that disappointingly was directed straight at Peter Schmeichel, it was another indication that the champions were becoming ruffled by their failure to sustain their expected rhythm. Two minutes later the defence was breached again and this time Wetherall's aerial threat was too much for Gary Pallister as he steered Kelly's free kick beyond Schmeichel's dive. United's passing remained ragged and there was now even more incentive for the Leeds midfield to work hard at closing down Keane and Paul Scholes and to restrict the supply line to Solskjaer and Sheringham. When Kelly was busy again behind the Reds' last line and delivered a short ball across the area, Rod Wallace was only inches away from doubling the home side's advantage. The second half came down to a matter of whether Leeds could hold on, though they would not have reckoned on United being so ineffective at turning possession into goalscoring situations. Time and again balls were lofted over the heads of waiting colleagues. From Beckham's corner with 15 minutes remaining Pallister drew a superb save from Martyn and then Sheringham was wasteful with the follow-up. _________________________________________________________________ Leeds (1) 1 Man Utd (0) 0 Wetherall 34. Leeds: Martyn, Kelly, Robertson, Haaland, Radebe, Wetherall, Wallace, Ribeiro, Hopkin (Molenaar 79), Halle, Kewell. Subs Not Used: Hasselbaink, Bowyer, Lilley, Beeney. Booked: Haaland, Kelly. Man Utd: Schmeichel, G. Neville (P. Neville 73), Irwin, Pallister, Beckham, Sheringham, Poborsky (Thornley 73), Keane, Scholes (Johnsen 57), Solskjaer, Berg. Subs Not Used: McClair, Van Der Gouw. Booked: Scholes, Keane, P. Neville. Att: 39,952 Ref: M J Bodenham (East Looe). _________________________________________________________________ Old habits die hard at Leeds and Arsenal By Alan Baldwin LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuter) - When George Graham was managing Arsenal to two league championships, there were some things fans could generally count on. One was that the team would be mean-minded in defence, allowing few goals to enter their net, and parsimonious in attack with trademark 1-0 wins. Another was that the chant of "Boring, Boring Arsenal" would be heard at some point. The old habits die hard. On Wednesday, Arsenal fans at their Highbury ground could be heard cheerfully belting out the old chant as their team dealt West Ham a 4-0 thrashing. Naturally, they were joking. And loving it. Arsenal have been playing entirely unlike the Gunners of old this season and Saturday was no exception. Under French manager Arsene Wenger, they lead the scoring chart with a total of 22 goals in nine matches. They also head the premier league by one point and are the only unbeaten club in the top flight. At Everton, they romped to a 2-0 lead by halftime and then allowed their opponents to equalise. Leeds, now under Graham's management, seemed to have taken on some old Arsenal traits. Without a home win all season, they were unadventurous in attack and looked dull. "Heard the one about the Leeds United credit card?," quipped a soccer writer in Saturday's Guardian newspaper. "Its the one with zero interest." But on Saturday, Graham showed that he can still motivate his men to great things as Leeds beat champions Manchester United with a classic old-style Arsenal 1-0 result that brought a smile to the Scot's face. It was the first defeat of the season for Manchester United and their first away goal conceded. For Graham it was a welcome break after a 1-0 defeat to a tired-looking Leicester the previous week ended with boos and whistles from the crowd at Elland Road. He said it was his most satisfying result since he arrived last year at Leeds, whose old rivalry with the Manchester club runs deep. "We're living in a world now where if you lose you get booed off and if you win you're a hero," he said. "That's why I don't get too elated or too depressed." "There's a lot of good things happening at Leeds but it's not going to happen quickly that we're the best in the country. It's going to take some time." Leeds have also adopted a policy of caution, preferring as Arsenal once did to spend carefully rather than splashing out huge sums on foreigners. Arsenal, of course, have done the opposite. Saturday's goals were a mixture of the old and new, with Ian Wright again popping up among the scorers along with attacking Dutch newcomer Marc Overmars. While Wright was celebrating his 182nd career goal for Arsenal, there was no joy for his Aston Villa friend and England colleague Stan Collymore. The former Liverpool striker, signed for seven million pounds ($11.2 million) in the close season, reportedly asked Wright to help him regain his scoring touch after just one goal in nine matches. Wright suggested he should watch old videos of himself scoring to regain his confidence. Play it again, Stan, was the recommendation. The tip failed to do the trick. Villa drew 2-2 with Sheffield Wednesday but Collymore was off the mark. His former Liverpool colleagues fared little better at West Ham, who bounced back from their Highbury drubbing with a 2-1 win at home. That result provided food for thought as England's finest prepared for European club competitions next week. Only Cup Winners' Cup hopefuls Chelsea and UEFA Cup entrants Leicester -- who moved up to third place with a 2-0 win at Barnsley -- beat their league opponents. Both Champions' League contenders Manchester United and Newcastle, 1-0 at Chelsea, were beaten. Kevin Keegan's return to English soccer as chief operating officer, otherwise known as chief supremo, of second division Fulham was also inauspicious. His team lost 2-1 to Wigan, a club whose honours are limited to third division champions last season and victory in the 1985 Freight Rover Trophy. The former Newcastle manager left the talking to his newly-appointed manager Ray Wilkins. "It's not my job to comment," Keegan commented. _________________________________________________________________ Leeds (1) 1 Man United (0) 0 FT Wetherall 34 United's European Cup dream suffered a shattering blow when skipper Roy Keane limped out of the action at Elland Road to leave Alex Ferguson with a massive injury headache just four days ahead of the Champions League visit of Juventus. It was bad enough that United's unbeaten start to the season should be ended after nine matches by David Wetherall's 35th-minute header, but with Keane joining Ryan Giggs, Andy Cole, Nicky Butt and David May on a growing Old Trafford casualty list, boss Ferguson has seen his worst nightmare come true. Keane went down clutching his right knee after a challenge on Alf-Inge Haaland that earned him a yellow card and after battling on briefly, he was forced to limp off to leave United down to 10 men for the last six minutes. With Giggs suffering a recurrence of the hamstring injury in the midweek draw with Chelsea - a bruising contest in which both Cole and Butt suffered knocks as well - and May still some way from fitness after a thigh problem, even United's considerable resources are at breaking point with the mighty Italians looming. It was a bitter end to a game which the champions controlled for long periods only to find Nigel Martyn in inspired form on the sporadic occasions they looked capable of hurting George Graham's determined side. Contests between these two arch rivals from opposite sides of the Pennines usually require little time to heat up, but the game spluttered badly in the opening stages. Rod Wallace did manage to give the visitors an uncomfortable time with a series of raids that exposed a rusty offside trap, but he twice squandered promising openings with poor crosses. United did carve out a chance with a classic counter-attack which saw Karel Poborsky link with Teddy Sheringham and when David Beckham crossed deep, Poborsky met the ball with a forceful downward header that Martyn clutched at full stretch. And the champions should have gone ahead when Keane powered a cross into the six-yard box only for first Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and then Sheringham to mis-kick with the goal gaping, and when Poborsky returned the ball, Beckham's raking half-volley was expertly clawed behind by Martyn. But the warning signs were there again for the Reds when Bruno Ribeiro's pass sent Wallace clear again only for the winger to lose control to allow Peter Schmeichel to gather. Harry Kewell sent a powerful diving header straight at Schmeichel, but moments later Leeds were ahead. Gary Neville was penalised for a touchline foul on Ribeiro and when Gary Kelly crossed from the left, Wetherall leapt magnificently above Gary Pallister to bullet a header beyond Schmeichel. It was the central defender's second goal of the campaign, and it gave the contest the adrenaline rush it so badly needed. Paul Scholes, Haaland and Kelly were all booked as tempers frayed, and as United struggled to recover their composure both Gunnar Halle and Ribeiro tested Schmeichel with long-range efforts. Indeed, Wallace was just inches away from doubling Leeds' advantage just before the interval when he lunged at Kelly's near-post cross and watched in agony as the ball trickled just wide. Ferguson must have ripped into his men at the break because the champions looked as though they really meant business on the restart and Wetherall was booked for a clumsy challenge on Solskjaer. Beckham tried his luck from 25 yards with a low drive, only for the ball to strike the heels of Solskjaer and spin kindly into the arms of Martyn. And although Kewell brought a diving save from Schmeichel with a low 20-yarder, the Yorkshire side's defence was having to work overtime to keep their lead intact. United sent on Ronny Johnsen - back after a thigh injury for his first appearance for seven games - with Scholes the man to make way after 57 minutes. And when Leeds continued to resist, Ferguson made a double switch with 19 minutes remaining when Phil Neville and Ben Thornley replaced Gary Neville and Poborsky. The Reds boss was almost rewarded immediately when winger Thornley cut in from the left to blast a in a shot that Martyn clutched to his chest. Martyn then produced a magnificent save to thwart Pallister when the big defender met Beckham's corner with a powerful header, but the Leeds keeper was then grateful to see Sheringham blaze the loose ball well over. Keane's departure left United a man short, but still they kept up the pressure. But United's frustrations grew when substitute Neville clattered Ribeiro and was yellow carded - and then Martyn produced another stunning save when Sheringham's header was heading for the top corner. Even Schmeichel joined the attack as the visitors looked for a late reward, but Leeds came through six minutes of injury time to claim the spoils. Leeds: Martyn, Kelly, Robertson, Haaland, Radebe, Wetherall, Wallace, Ribeiro, Hopkin (Molenaar, 79), Halle, Kewell. Subs not used: Hasselbaink, Bowyer, Lilley, Beeney. Booked: Haaland, Kelly. Man United: Schmeichel, G. Neville (P. Neville, 73), Irwin, Pallister, Beckham, Sheringham, Poborsky (Thornley, 73), Keane, Scholes (Johnsen, 57), Solskjaer, Berg. Subs not used: McClair, Van Der Gouw. Booked: Scholes, Keane, P. Neville. Attendance: 39,952. Referee: M J Bodenham (East Looe). |
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