Guileless Man United fail to break down Besiktas

Manchester United 0 Besiktas 1. Sir Alex Ferguson perhaps read too much into the Turkish champions' last visit to England, when they were thumped 8-0 by Liverpool, in deciding to send out an experimental line-up of extreme youth (a front two of Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda, combined age 36) and creaking-legged experience (Gary Neville) last night.

Whatever the reasoning behind his decision, the upshot of his selection was that Manchester United failed to break through against a tough and resolute Besiktas defence who took an early lead and never looked like surrendering it. In the process the Old Trafford club lost an eight-year unbeaten home run in Europe and raised fresh doubts about the strength in depth at Sir Alex's disposal.

The game started well enough for United, with Gabriel Obertan a lively presence on both flanks, harassing the Turkish defence. Welbeck, Darron Gibson and Ji-Sung Park all had shots in the first 20 minutes, but failed to test the veteran Rustu Recber in the Besiktas goal.

The visitors then took a shock lead with their first meaningful attack, Rodrigo Tello's long-range shot from the right side eluding Ben Foster's outstretched arm after taking a deflection off a Man Utd defender. Foster wasn't at fault for the goal, but with all the attention being paid to him following his comments about needing to be play football to keep in the hunt for a place in the national team, it was the type of soft goal you don't want to be seen conceding.

United huffed and puffed for the remainder of the first half, Macheda, Gibson and Obertan all being denied by Rustu. The opening exchanges of the second half saw more home pressure, but Besiktas were happy to get all their men behind the ball, blocking out the long-distance efforts that Ferguson's increasingly desperate charges were reduced to. The introduction of Michael Owen with 20 minutes to go saw some guile enter their game, but even subsequent substitutions that brought on Michael Carrick and Patrice Evra couldn't wear down the admirable Turks.

A late penalty shout for a barge on Evra provided Ferguson with something to rail about after the game - "It was a penalty kick. That's two European games in a row where we have been denied stonewall penalties. If penalties are no longer given for fouls like that the game is in trouble" - and a corner in injury time saw Wes Brown's header test Rustu more than he had been for the whole game.

But the rumblings at Old Trafford were that these 'kids' aren't yet ready to win anything, a point their manager conceded: "You expect young players to make mistakes, and that's what happened. They are still learning the game. They did some good things but it was tough for them; Besiktas were playing out time and lying down as often as they could. It is difficult for young players to understand that." ·