English Angle: What's Manchester United's Best Midfield To Beat Porto?

In the opening leg of Manchester United's quarter-final clash with Porto, opposition supposedly inferior to the reigning Champions League holders, the Portuguese outfit stormed to a surprise 2-2 draw in an arena where Sir Alex Ferguson's men would have hoped for home comforts to prevail.

The midfield zones threw up an interesting positional see-saw. Darren Fletcher and Park Ji-Sung - usually reliable squad players for ties such as these - proved to be ineffective and were eventually punished for being substandard in the initial square-off.

Scottish international Fletcher was assigned the post of the enforcing box-to-box hounder. To not allow the Porto midfield room to negotiate their way past a United quintet. He failed in his duties. He failed to contain the threat posed by the visiting side and, as such, Cristian Rodriguez and Lucho Gonzalez were allowed to exploit the gaps.

Park, dubbed 'Three-Lung' for the seemingly bottomless pit of energy stored in his engine, was just as underwhelming.

If United are to gain an essential advantage in the concluding leg on Wednesday evening, then a tactical shift is essential. Not only must they score, but they will need to tame players like Rodriguez, Gonzalez, while also finding a way past Fernando.

Manchester United's travelling squad to Portugal:
Van der Sar, Foster, Kuszczak; Neville, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Rafael, Fabio, O'Shea, J. Evans; Ronaldo, Anderson, Scholes, Gibson, Carrick, Park, Nani, Giggs; Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov, Macheda.

Midfield options:

Mk 1:
Park - Scholes
Ronaldo - Rooney - Giggs
Berbatov

Mk 2:
Park - O'Shea - Carrick - Giggs
Ronaldo - Rooney

The pace of the fixture in the initial match nullified Michael Carrick's ability to thread a cutting and incisive pass in the early stages of the game.

United must stamp an authority on affairs at the Estadio do Dragao early on Wednesday evening. Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, who have only featured intermittently in the current campaign, may be called upon to aid their side in Europe once more.

It is testament to their contribution that the latter has been included on the shortlist for the PFA Player of the Season, while the former would no doubt have sprung up as an outside candidate too.

The deep movement of Wayne Rooney, who will want to, in characteristic fashion, chase down the ball when Porto are in possession, could also be a decisive factor in Manchester United's ability to find space in and behind Fernando.

By dropping deeper when United are in possession, he will drag players out to mark him, and so, providing one of the two prongs of Ronaldo and Giggs stay in an elevated position to help supplement Dimitar Berbatov, there remains a constant opportunity to launch a quick attack - something United have always revelled in, especially in a season that has witnessed so many one goal winning margins.

Space and movement will be essential for the return leg. The best players to exploit this are the experienced veterans. Paul Scholes has long played delicate and audacious short-range passes, but has through the years been able to play raking attempts from midfield.

The latter tactic is an essential requirement if United are to bypass any congested pressure that Porto try to employ in the central areas. In order to play the raking pass, support must be granted to Berbatov by way of the wings. Therefore, if the ball cannot be bagged sufficiently for solo use, the Bulgarian can play in either Ronaldo or Giggs.

If Manchester United are to progress then Ronaldo will need to be on top form. If he is, then perhaps the notion that the FIFA World Player of the Year is guilty of disappearing on the bigger stages will be put to bed once and for all.

Alan Dawson, Goal.com