Rangers could not have asked for a better result drawing Man Utd at Old Trafford, 0-0 in game that was devoid of much creativity and had a handful of scoring threats.
The Scottish champions put on a calculated display of park the bus which Utd were unable to break down except on one occasion when Ryan Giggs was able to break the offside trap through a lovely little chip but Darren Fletcher was slow pulling the trigger and the threat was snuffed out.
Stoppage time added upto 6 minutes all due to Antonio Valencia's horrific injury- a suspected dislocated and fracture of the ankle. An innocuous tackle by Kirk Broadfoot (was his foot larger than imagined?) and Valencia went tumbling down. He came up with his left ankle twisted at an unnatural angle. A hush descended on Old Trafford as fans reacted. Valencia was stretchered off with oxygen and probably an opioid to manage the pain. He will most likely be out for the season or till very late. An injury similar to Bobby Zamora's which will require immediate surgery.
Without Valencia, the game went narrow as Man Utd went down the middle. Darron Gibson had a few noteworthy heave hos from range but Rangers goalie Allan McGregor was not severely tested on those occasions.
Broadfoot was again in the limelight when he entered the Man Utd box but went sprawling when his foot was clipped from behind by Chris Smalling. Man Utd got a break as the referee chose to ignore the legitimate appeals of penalty from the midfielder.
Sir Alex Ferguson came out with a revamped team - 10 changes from the Everton game with only Darren Fletcher surviving the cut. Wayne Rooney did himself no favours, looking tentative and timid. No Berbatov, no Nani, and no Scholes. No creativity. No attacking flair.
For Rangers, Maurice Edu kept up the defensive shape and Madjid Bougherra was huge in the center. Walter Smith maybe able to pull off the improbable and make the Ibrox another impregnable fortress.
this is bad news for man united...not only for valencia's injury but for their performance against the rangers...I am guessing it's back to the drawing board for fergie in order to assess what they have to do to win in a league full of threats to their campaign...
Two years ago, Rangers got to the UEFA final with the same stalwart/boring defending until Zenit dismantled them. I commend their strategy for survival, but United have to do better. Fergie rested players because of Liverpool this weekend and typically it matters not as the second stringers are usually enough to get a result. Plus, it's a good run out for Smalling, Gibson etc. United should still have an easy time getting through this group. I ain't panicking.