Saturday could turn out to have been a day we'll look back on and say that was an important day for any number of reasons. Coming into the game, it was obvious to everybody we really needed the three points to get our season back on track as well as shut the press up for a couple of weeks at least.
Moyes made a couple of big calls, bringing in Januzaj, though for some of us, that wasn't really that big a call at all. The young Belgian, if that's still what we can call him, has looked ready for the move up since the pre-season tour. He has impressed with his two first team appearances as a substitute and on Monday playing for the reserves looked on a different planet to everybody else on the pitch, scoring a screamer to boot.
The bigger calls, given our indifferent defensive form was leaving Vidic at centre half after his midweek excertions in the Ukraine and giving Jones his first start in his favourite possition this season. I think it's fair to say that those calls were only a qualified success.
We started woefully, with Evra being turned far too easily after four minutes and Jones only managing to clear the cross to the feet of Vidic. In fairness to the big Serb, the ball came to him quickly, but he should still have done better than turn it straight into the path of Gardener who made no mistake with the gift presented to him. So in a must win game against the bottom placed team we were a goal down within five minutes, not the start we were looking for. That seemed to panic the team as our midfield and defence were harried into some poor defensive play and in attack we seemed to have no shape at all. It's hard to see Vidic doing back to back Wednesday to Saturday games after this.
As we ended our last game during the defeat to West Brom, the flank was where our threat seemed to come from. I suppose after ages of absolutely nothing coming from the flanks, this is an encouraging sign. Our game seemed to rely on Nani and Januzaj to deliver brilliance off the cuff, with Van Persie and Rooney barely getting themselves into the game. Carrick and Cleverley struggling to control the middle of the park didn't produce much as an attacking force. Our best chances during a desperately disappointing first half display, came from the flanks. Januzaj went tantalizingly close with a right foot effort from the edge of the box and Nani had one long range effort and a volley in the box that he maybe should have done better with.
At the other end, we were as wobbly as we have been during any game this season, in fact it was painful to watch Vidic at times he was having such a hard time. Jones seemed to sink to his level at times and disastrously lost the ball just inside his own half, and though he made a superb saving tackle, against a better team, we'd probably have conceeded a second, possibly killer goal. Not long before half time De Gea, who was blameless for what went on in front of him, made an absolutely outstanding save, to keep us in the game.
Now time to wax lyrical about a possible season defining debut. Though he made mistakes and lost the ball at times when he tried too much, on his debut and at all of eighteen years of age, Januzaj was by far and away our best player on the pitch, and that was without the two goals. It's hard to see how he hasn't just ensured that he now becomes a very valued member of our first team squad. I don't expect him to play every game, but I'd be disappointed if wasn't at least on the bench for most games for now on. He is simply too good and too important for any other option.
What was embarrassing, for me anyway, was that during the second half, the teenager was head and shoulders above any other United player on the pitch. I wasn't particularly impressed by Carrick or Cleverley again, and further forward, Rooney was in and out of the game, being easily outshined by Januzaj, who i'm sure if he'd have moved into the middle would really have shown us just how mediocre Rooney's present form really is. More worrying, was Van Persie's form, he started the season on fire at Swansea, but since then, due to a combination off United's general lack of form and niggling injuries he seems to have lost his game a little. Still he managed to fashion two great chances, that should have seem him leave the north east with at least one goal.
It's an annoying time for an international break, when is it anything else, just as things potentially start to look up, we've got a fortnight before the next game. At least when we come back from the break, we can hopefully start to look at our future optimistically again. Since Ronaldo left we haven't really had a player who you know is going to get you out of your seat with excitement, Januzaj does that, and then some. I have had a feeling for a while that the next two to three seasons we will see more and more of our exciting youngsters replace some of the dead wood in our squad. I've a feeling that Saturday was the beginning of the end for Ashley Young and Anderson's career's at United to name just two.
Moyes made a couple of big calls, bringing in Januzaj, though for some of us, that wasn't really that big a call at all. The young Belgian, if that's still what we can call him, has looked ready for the move up since the pre-season tour. He has impressed with his two first team appearances as a substitute and on Monday playing for the reserves looked on a different planet to everybody else on the pitch, scoring a screamer to boot.
The bigger calls, given our indifferent defensive form was leaving Vidic at centre half after his midweek excertions in the Ukraine and giving Jones his first start in his favourite possition this season. I think it's fair to say that those calls were only a qualified success.
We started woefully, with Evra being turned far too easily after four minutes and Jones only managing to clear the cross to the feet of Vidic. In fairness to the big Serb, the ball came to him quickly, but he should still have done better than turn it straight into the path of Gardener who made no mistake with the gift presented to him. So in a must win game against the bottom placed team we were a goal down within five minutes, not the start we were looking for. That seemed to panic the team as our midfield and defence were harried into some poor defensive play and in attack we seemed to have no shape at all. It's hard to see Vidic doing back to back Wednesday to Saturday games after this.
As we ended our last game during the defeat to West Brom, the flank was where our threat seemed to come from. I suppose after ages of absolutely nothing coming from the flanks, this is an encouraging sign. Our game seemed to rely on Nani and Januzaj to deliver brilliance off the cuff, with Van Persie and Rooney barely getting themselves into the game. Carrick and Cleverley struggling to control the middle of the park didn't produce much as an attacking force. Our best chances during a desperately disappointing first half display, came from the flanks. Januzaj went tantalizingly close with a right foot effort from the edge of the box and Nani had one long range effort and a volley in the box that he maybe should have done better with.
At the other end, we were as wobbly as we have been during any game this season, in fact it was painful to watch Vidic at times he was having such a hard time. Jones seemed to sink to his level at times and disastrously lost the ball just inside his own half, and though he made a superb saving tackle, against a better team, we'd probably have conceeded a second, possibly killer goal. Not long before half time De Gea, who was blameless for what went on in front of him, made an absolutely outstanding save, to keep us in the game.
Now time to wax lyrical about a possible season defining debut. Though he made mistakes and lost the ball at times when he tried too much, on his debut and at all of eighteen years of age, Januzaj was by far and away our best player on the pitch, and that was without the two goals. It's hard to see how he hasn't just ensured that he now becomes a very valued member of our first team squad. I don't expect him to play every game, but I'd be disappointed if wasn't at least on the bench for most games for now on. He is simply too good and too important for any other option.
What was embarrassing, for me anyway, was that during the second half, the teenager was head and shoulders above any other United player on the pitch. I wasn't particularly impressed by Carrick or Cleverley again, and further forward, Rooney was in and out of the game, being easily outshined by Januzaj, who i'm sure if he'd have moved into the middle would really have shown us just how mediocre Rooney's present form really is. More worrying, was Van Persie's form, he started the season on fire at Swansea, but since then, due to a combination off United's general lack of form and niggling injuries he seems to have lost his game a little. Still he managed to fashion two great chances, that should have seem him leave the north east with at least one goal.
It's an annoying time for an international break, when is it anything else, just as things potentially start to look up, we've got a fortnight before the next game. At least when we come back from the break, we can hopefully start to look at our future optimistically again. Since Ronaldo left we haven't really had a player who you know is going to get you out of your seat with excitement, Januzaj does that, and then some. I have had a feeling for a while that the next two to three seasons we will see more and more of our exciting youngsters replace some of the dead wood in our squad. I've a feeling that Saturday was the beginning of the end for Ashley Young and Anderson's career's at United to name just two.
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