truthandlife
08 Dec 2004, 06:12 PM
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=169569&cc=5901
Cristiano Ronaldo and Darren Fletcher tried to prompt the visitors into action without success but the only shot United unleashed was a weak David Bellion effort that trundled well wide, so the major beneficiary of the opening 45 minutes was probably Tim Howard.
The American, who impressed so much during his first six months at Old Trafford until his catastrophic mistake against Porto last term, has not been seen on the European stage since his equally woeful blunder in this season's opening game in Lyon almost three months ago.
Roy Carroll has usurped him as current number one, but the suspicion remains that Howard is the most likely keeper in Ferguson's current squad to fill the massive void left by Peter Schmeichel's retirement five long years ago.
Howard collected a succession of curling crosses and free-kicks in a manner that would have inspired a sense of safety among his back four.
Unfortunately, there was little that Howard could do about the spectacular effort from Tuncay that put the hosts in front a minute after the re-start.
Given the excellence of the strike, it was difficult too to point the finger at Jon O'Shea, the nearest defender to Tuncay and certainly close enough to prevent the Turkish international doing anything other than what actually transpired.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Darren Fletcher tried to prompt the visitors into action without success but the only shot United unleashed was a weak David Bellion effort that trundled well wide, so the major beneficiary of the opening 45 minutes was probably Tim Howard.
The American, who impressed so much during his first six months at Old Trafford until his catastrophic mistake against Porto last term, has not been seen on the European stage since his equally woeful blunder in this season's opening game in Lyon almost three months ago.
Roy Carroll has usurped him as current number one, but the suspicion remains that Howard is the most likely keeper in Ferguson's current squad to fill the massive void left by Peter Schmeichel's retirement five long years ago.
Howard collected a succession of curling crosses and free-kicks in a manner that would have inspired a sense of safety among his back four.
Unfortunately, there was little that Howard could do about the spectacular effort from Tuncay that put the hosts in front a minute after the re-start.
Given the excellence of the strike, it was difficult too to point the finger at Jon O'Shea, the nearest defender to Tuncay and certainly close enough to prevent the Turkish international doing anything other than what actually transpired.