PAPERED-OVER CRACKS EXPOSED AGAIN
The Guardian:
Manchester United are among the most celebrated thrill-makers and thrill-seekers of the football world, but they will hardly delight in the pulse-racing prospect that awaits them in Lisbon. Unless they defeat Benfica in the Estadio da Luz on December 7 they cannot be sure of surviving in the competition.
An encounter with the Portuguese champions will stir recollections of the dazzling night in 1966 when George Best inspired a triumph, but no true parallels exist. It is over two years since United won an away tie in Europe, against Panathinaikos, and that is more than a sterile statistic.
The sequence attests to the diminution of United as an attacking force. Where once they flowed they now congeal. The most realistic hope of surviving will lie in holding Benfica while Villarreal record a home win over Lille. United, however, will not even have the dubious consolation of the Uefa Cup if the Portuguese beat them in a fortnight's time.
Ferguson could have done without the centre of his team coming under renewed scrutiny. A banner was hung at one end of the ground that read "Keane 1993-2005 Red Legend". It could have passed for a gravestone inscription, but this is the liveliest of issues.
The departure of the captain Roy Keane by "mutual consent" last week is broadly resented by the crowd. It might be unreasonable to build up the Keane controversy. Even if he were around he would barely have recovered from a foot injury, and in any case he is, at 34, a holding player rather than a schemer. None the less, someone like Keane could have galvanised the midfield and Ferguson will be blamed for failing to identify even a successor to the Irishman.
Everything hangs in the balance at United. The visceral resentment for the new owners is well known but it has to be noted that last night some fans were seeking the autographs of the visiting members of the Glazer family. The Americans should not assume that acceptance is on the horizon, but better results might see the antagonism shelved for a while.
The Times:
It was not so much about the man who was not there as the goal that would not come, although, to judge from Sir Alex Ferguson’s post-match comments, the absence of Roy Keane and a winning strike could be said to go hand in hand.
The Manchester United manager never declared as much, of course — predictably, he did not mention his departed captain — but he did cite the lack of experience and patience more than the failings of the forwards for a fourth failure to score in five Champions League matches this season.
Keane might have made no difference, but a steady nerve will be required against Benfica at the Stadium of Light in a fortnight. It should be a tumultuous evening and one suspects that the Irishman would have enjoyed the challenge.
Seven blanks in their past eight matches in the Champions League proper is not a record that anyone ever expected to attach to a team managed by Ferguson because, even in times of trouble, his teams have always been associated with the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid approach of going out all guns blazing. In this competition, they are still fumbling around in their holsters.
They opened at a blistering pace last night, but the storm blew itself out after 25 minutes. Even Wayne Rooney, unplayable at times, was tamed by the end with his team-mates conspiring against him.
The closing minutes were most notable for Rooney’s annoyance at being passed over for free-kick duties, first by Cristiano Ronaldo, then by Ruud van Nistelrooy. The England striker was entitled to his frustration because, if anyone was going to score, it was him. Ronaldo whacked his free kick into the crowd and Van Nistelrooy’s effort barely left the ground.
Neville was sent on for Brown, more to give the full back time on the pitch after a three-month absence with a groin injury than any tactical manoeuvre, and Louis Saha followed for Smith with just under ten minutes to go. All the early swagger had gone out of United and, even with two wingers and three strikers on the field, the pressure on the away defence was intermittent.
For Villarreal, it was an excellent point given the absence through injury of Riquelme, the schemer who had so impressed for Argentina against England — and even more so given that they finished the night at the top of the group with a match at home to Lille to follow. At least for United, it is still in their hands.
The Independent:
Their Champions' League reckoning awaits them in Lisbon next month and it will be a match that defines the future of Manchester United, the reign of Sir Alex Ferguson and the whole plan upon which the Glazer regime is founded.
Lose to Benfica on 7 December and United will have to contemplate a fear that already haunts Old Trafford: that their 63-year-old manager is incapable of delivering the success that will sustain his club's towering debts.
For a club so addicted to those dramatic, epochal moments, a goalless draw with Villarreal is not what will be remembered in a month that has seen the defeat of the Premiership champions Chelsea and the departure of Roy Keane but its implications are just as serious. When United visit Benfica, where only a victory will guarantee that they qualify for the Champions' League knockout stages, it will be a mission to preserve a season that has fallen victim too often to the volatile nature of their form.
The last time United won away in the Champions' League was against Panathinaikos in November 2003 and it was Diego Forlan who scored their winner. They had good reason to be thankful that the Uruguayan striker was not fit to play last night for Villarreal, who, Ferguson argued, offered precious little in the way of attack but, in their two attempts on goal, had just as many chances on target as United.
This was not Ferguson's side's worst performance in recent memory but their inability to break down the Spanish team promised little optimism should they reach the knockout stages.
A draw at the Stadium of Light will suffice if Villarreal beat Lille at home but scuttling into the next round in second place in Group D will hardly be a launch-pad for Ferguson's second European Cup success.
Manchester United (4-4-2): Van der Sar; Brown (Neville, 73), Ferdinand, Silvestre, O'Shea; Fletcher (Park, 53), Smith (Saha, 81), Scholes, Ronaldo; Rooney, Van Nistelrooy. Substitutes not used: Howard (gk), Richardson, Pique, Rossi
Villarreal (4-2-3-1): Barbosa; Javi Venta, Rodriguez, Pena, Arruabarrena; Roger Garcia (Hector Font, 65), Tacchinardi (Josico, 75), Senna, Sorin; Figueroa (Xisco, 86), Jose Mari. Substitutes not used: Viera, Cesar Arzo, Kromkamp, Cazorla, Xisco.
Referee: M De Santis (Italy).