Manchester United 1-0 West Ham United

A run of the mill, job done, type of game that won't live long in the memory, but we're in the fourth round and that was about as much as to be expected with this game sandwiched between Liverpool at home and Tottenham away on Sunday.
On the plus side it was a good opportunity for squad rotation, injured players coming back and others such as Smalling who may not be getting as much football as they'd like. It's always nice to get a reasonably early goal, we had chances to extend it, but never really convinced that we would get it. Fortunately the happy hammers had a few injuries and they didn't really pose much of a threat, I'm not sure if they had a shot at all in the first half. The first goal was about as good as the night got for Anderson, it was a fine pass to release Hernandez who unselfishly put it on a plate for Rooney. After that Anderson once more showed how far behind Carrick and Cleverley he really is. He became more of a headless chicken with the ball the longer the game went on.
Giggs once more showed that when he gets game time, he still has a lot to offer. Others to impress on the night, were, once again, Rafael, who seems to get better and better. Jones was excellent, playing in what i think will be his best position at centre half, though i can see him coming in from time to time to give Rafael a rest at right back. He looks to me, the obvious successor to Vidic, he can play and he brings it out well, but he can be no nonsense when it's needed. The rumour is that United are in the market for an experienced centre half, i don't really see the point of that, with Michale Keane also looking an excellent prospect we seem well stocked with centre halves.
Rooney was alright, but looked a bit rusty, he obviously needs games to get rid of that, but will he get it, i suppose is the big question. There's a hell of a lot of competition for places around the squad now. Valencia still hasn't refound his best form, so it was interesting to see Nani back in the team. I thought he started reasonably but faded right out of it the longer the game went on. Again i suppose, he hasn't had much football, but will he get enough to try and rediscover the indispensable player of a couple of seasons ago.
Pity about the penalty miss from Rooney, it would have made the last few minutes a bit more stress free. I'm not really sure Rooney should be our main penalty taker, it was fair enough he took it last night, but I'd like to see Van Persie take them myself. Rooney misses too many really, last night's was a bit of a shocker. So Fulham in the next round, i suppose we shouldn't take it for granted, but it looks like we are going to have a bit of a crack at the FA cup this year