It was nerve wracking, it was exciting, it was a victory. But it was bad. That would be a sum up of the last night’s game between Manchester United and Atalanta. After trailing two goal within 30 minutes, the Red Devils were on the ropes, as the Italians, handicaped with five players injured, managed to secure the ball and use already famous United’s defensive errors. But, in the end, they prevailed and secured a big victory and a morale boost ahead of big derby with Liverpool on Sunday. Everyting is rosy and there is serious reason for concern, depending who do you ask. Ronaldo the Savior: Manchester goes from 0-2 to 3-2 and defeats AtalantaPaul Scholes, an 11 Premier League and two Champions Leagues winner, wasn’t fooled by the victory, and with the big derby in mind, he was very critical. „I get the United excitement, that first half put me off the second half, if they were playing a better side they would have been out of sight. Atalanta had five players missing. It was a great night but that first half was a major worry. people say I am miserable, but I looked at that game thinking about Liverpool at the weekend and playing Manchester City on November 6. If you play two central midfielders against them, it’ll be three or four-nil and you aren’t coming back. Will they play that well against Liverpool, imagine Jurgen Klopp at home rubbing his hands together watching that first half“ said Scholes to BT Spots. (3.10) MANCHESTER UNITED (3.50) LIVERPOOL (2.40)As expected, Ole Gunnar Solskjar was much happier as he avoided defeat and took off the pressure of his chest for at least a few days. He quickly pointed out the importance of Ronaldo, as the media were all over his work rate last week. The Norwegian also shrugged of suggestions that last night’s comeback proved that the team is playing for him.„Don’t even start, don’t disrespect the players. They played for Man United and they are the luckiest men in the world because they’re the ones who get to play for Man United. Millions of boys and girls would love to do that. If anyone wants to criticise Ronaldo for his work rate or attitude, just watch this game, watch how he runs around – he’s great in front of goal. I was really pleased with how he led the line. We asked him to run the channels and press more. We were at home and we wanted to get the crowd behind us. He did everything a centre-forward should do, leading the line and defending. The goal is just what he does better than most“ explained Solskjaer.
