United's resolute defence holds firm again

DANIEL TAYLORwatched as Inter's strike force failed to give United's defence any serious trouble in the San Siro

IN THE end, they passed their test with distinction. Alex Ferguson could have been forgiven if he had misgivings about the fitness of Jonny Evans and John O’Shea, but the players of Internazionale were simply not good enough and not quick enough with their passing or their movement to take advantage.

That was the lesson of the evening: that this Inter side, when you take away all the posturing of Jose Mourinho, are not actually that impressive. A better side would surely have done more to single out Evans on a night when the young centre-half had to play the biggest match of his life with a badly swollen ankle. Or they would have cottoned on much earlier to the fact that O’Shea, also playing after a late fitness test, might be vulnerable if Zlatan Ibrahimovic went directly against him.

What could not have been expected was that United, facing such esteemed opponents and with Nemanja Vidic, Gary Neville and Wes Brown all unavailable, would look as comfortable as at any stage of that recent record-breaking run, when they managed to go 1,334 minutes without conceding a league goal.

Evans had not even been able to take part in full training the night before. O’Shea’s heel was not quite so tender but he, too, had required intensive treatment. Whether Ferguson had exaggerated their conditions in a game of bluff with Mourinho, we will probably never know.

But those of us who were at Old Trafford for United’s game against Blackburn on Saturday to see Evans hobble off with damaged ankle ligaments could only admire the fact he had managed to make it on to the pitch. It was a night when he and O’Shea had to grit their teeth, block out the pain and, in Ferguson’s words, get on with it.

The alternative, after all, was almost unthinkable. Fabio da Silva may be an astonishingly exciting prospect but, for now, that is all he is – a prospect. The Brazilian, a left-back by trade, was the only defender on United’s bench and the only possible alternative, other than Darren Fletcher, to take O’Shea’s position on the right side of defence. Ferguson loves his young players to show off their potential, but San Siro, this whistling, fire-cracking, seething bear pit, is really no place for an 18-year-old with only 53 minutes of first-team experience behind him.

The strange thing was that United had this experimental, new defence and their opponents took so long to work out that it could be to their advantage.

The best team in Italy, playing in front of their raucous fans in Europe’s biggest competition, lurched between mediocre and abysmal throughout the first half, and could scarcely have made it a less demanding occasion for those United players nursing injuries.

The high-tempo opening that had been anticipated never materialised, and, in the moments when Inter were struggling to get out of their own half, United’s defenders had little to worry about. The only time they were troubled during this period was in the 24th minute, when Rio Ferdinand did not get enough distance on a clearing header, allowing Ibrahimovic his first sight at goal. But there was not one occasion, for example, when Sulley Muntari, playing on the left of Inter’s midfield, tried to knock the ball past O’Shea and test the defender’s ability to turn sharply.

It is no exaggeration to say Inter managed more in the first three minutes of the second half than they had throughout the entire first half. It was only now that they started to show why they are on course for a fourth successive Serie A title and Ibrahimovic, with some quick footwork, got past O’Shea for the first time.

Shortly afterwards O’Shea was grateful to see the assistant referee raise a flag for a marginal offside after he had allowed Ibrahimovic to stray behind him. The Swede had increasingly started to drift over to the left and, for a brief spell, this looked like being Inter’s most likely route to creating their first noteworthy effort on goal.

Yet the moment passed. Edwin van der Sar remained largely untroubled and, on this evidence, it is difficult to imagine Inter getting the away goal, or goals, they will need at Old Trafford.