Anderson Excels For The Reserves

Anderson, apparently, has not given up. It seems he regarded being left out of the squad that achieved a historic and stunning win at Milan as a challenge rather than an insult: he seemed determined to put up a good show for the Reserves tonight.

Of course a fully focused and committed Anderson should be far too good for the Reserve league and so it proved: he was the outstanding player for the 60 minutes he spent on the pitch, at the heart of all of United's best attacking moves. His neat pass brought about the opening goal, coolly put away by Mame Biram Diouf who enjoyed a pleasant evening and was also taken off after 60 minutes, presumably to preserve him for the Everton game on Saturday.

Will Anderson be involved there? Not clear yet but with Giggs injured and Carrick suspended for the return leg against Milan we need to bring him back sooner rather than later because we simply won't have enough midfielders for the second leg and that would be awfully dangerous even in the enviable position of being 3-2 up after the away leg. He has to be brought back into the team over the next three weeks so that he'll be in good enough shape by March 10.

By the way, the Reserves won 2-0, the second goal coming courtesy of Cameron Stewart after good work by the impressive Gabriel Obertan. Rodrigo Possebon was back in action after his unsuccessful loan stint at Braga and he was good enough though looked a little bit overweight - or is he more muscular these days and that deceived my eyes? Maybe. Fabio got injured, again. Depressing.

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