I feared the worst when i saw the team, a central midfield that screamed, not good enough, plus Ferdinand at centre half and Smalling once again at right back. Losing Jones just after it had been announced we had lost Carrick for at least a month was the last thing we needed really. Of course we have seen performances as aimless as that with Carrick in the team, but without him, it was virtually guaranteed.
I had hoped and expected Giggs to start yesterday, but it seems as if Moyes is going to stick to starting Giggs in the cup in the cup competitions and using Giggs as a substitute in the league. I'm not sure that's going to do much for our league campaign, with such a dearth of creativity available in the middle of the park.
Ferdinand didn't have a particularly bad game yesterday, but our worst defensive performances have generally come when he has been in the starting eleven. Once again I just don't understand the selection of Smalling at right back, what you may gain defensively in the air, you more than lose offensively. He does make good surging runs forward at times, but at the end of them, hasn't got a clue what to do. He gave the ball away far too often yesterday which was the last thing we needed with absolutely nothing coming from the sub standard engine room.
That Rooney was probably our best player, tells you all you need to know about our performance yesterday, because he was no great shakes. You can't really argue against the arguments that he should have been sent of, after that needless kick out, though when it's Souness doing the arguing, it's worth remembering him in his prime. It would have been a really dumb red card though, it's not as if the guy had been persistently fouling Rooney, the game had only been going for ten minutes or so. I suppose after that incident, it had to be Rooney, the pantomime villain for the home crowd that opened the scoring. Though I thought he'd fucked it up when he cut inside, and but for the deflection he probably wouldn't have beaten the keeper.
The equaliser from Campbell was probably the best bit of football in the match and only what the home team deserved. The ball from Whittingham, vied with Giggs late long ball for the pass of the day. When Evra headed home on the stroke of halftime to give us a scarcely deserved lead, i dared to hope it was going to be our day. And to be fair, as average as we were for the majority of the second half, i couldn't really see them scoring. Which made the leveller all the more galling, as Evra switched off and one of the smallest of their men in the box headed home.
Yet the game wasn't finished and we contrived to miss some glorious chances. Rooney was possibly trying to do the right thing with the pull back to Welbeck, but imagine the grief Welbeck would have got if he'd have executed it as poorly as that. The late Smalling miss wasn't as glorious chance, but it was a real chance all the same. It may have fallen to the wrong man, but to be fair to Smalling anybody could have pulled it, when the chance was as snapshot as that.
There isn't really much to say about Fellaini and Cleverley that hasn't been said before. I was no fan of Fellaini at Everton, but, even I can't believe he's as bad as he has looked for us so far. As for Cleverley, I had high hopes for him when he came back to us after his loan spells, he looked like he was going to be a top player, but he just isn't bringing enough to his game to be a real Manchester United player.
So on to Leverkeusen and then, the real biggie for me, Tottenham away, we really needed to get the three points yesterday with that trip in mind. And after yesterday's debacle at the boo camp, Spurs will be under real pressure from their own fans to put on a performance. I hope Jones is ready for that, because I'd really fear for us to go into that game with the starting eleven and particularly the midfield two we started with yesterday. In fact with the resources available, there must be a very strong case for going into that game with three in the middle.
I had hoped and expected Giggs to start yesterday, but it seems as if Moyes is going to stick to starting Giggs in the cup in the cup competitions and using Giggs as a substitute in the league. I'm not sure that's going to do much for our league campaign, with such a dearth of creativity available in the middle of the park.
Ferdinand didn't have a particularly bad game yesterday, but our worst defensive performances have generally come when he has been in the starting eleven. Once again I just don't understand the selection of Smalling at right back, what you may gain defensively in the air, you more than lose offensively. He does make good surging runs forward at times, but at the end of them, hasn't got a clue what to do. He gave the ball away far too often yesterday which was the last thing we needed with absolutely nothing coming from the sub standard engine room.
That Rooney was probably our best player, tells you all you need to know about our performance yesterday, because he was no great shakes. You can't really argue against the arguments that he should have been sent of, after that needless kick out, though when it's Souness doing the arguing, it's worth remembering him in his prime. It would have been a really dumb red card though, it's not as if the guy had been persistently fouling Rooney, the game had only been going for ten minutes or so. I suppose after that incident, it had to be Rooney, the pantomime villain for the home crowd that opened the scoring. Though I thought he'd fucked it up when he cut inside, and but for the deflection he probably wouldn't have beaten the keeper.
The equaliser from Campbell was probably the best bit of football in the match and only what the home team deserved. The ball from Whittingham, vied with Giggs late long ball for the pass of the day. When Evra headed home on the stroke of halftime to give us a scarcely deserved lead, i dared to hope it was going to be our day. And to be fair, as average as we were for the majority of the second half, i couldn't really see them scoring. Which made the leveller all the more galling, as Evra switched off and one of the smallest of their men in the box headed home.
Yet the game wasn't finished and we contrived to miss some glorious chances. Rooney was possibly trying to do the right thing with the pull back to Welbeck, but imagine the grief Welbeck would have got if he'd have executed it as poorly as that. The late Smalling miss wasn't as glorious chance, but it was a real chance all the same. It may have fallen to the wrong man, but to be fair to Smalling anybody could have pulled it, when the chance was as snapshot as that.
There isn't really much to say about Fellaini and Cleverley that hasn't been said before. I was no fan of Fellaini at Everton, but, even I can't believe he's as bad as he has looked for us so far. As for Cleverley, I had high hopes for him when he came back to us after his loan spells, he looked like he was going to be a top player, but he just isn't bringing enough to his game to be a real Manchester United player.
So on to Leverkeusen and then, the real biggie for me, Tottenham away, we really needed to get the three points yesterday with that trip in mind. And after yesterday's debacle at the boo camp, Spurs will be under real pressure from their own fans to put on a performance. I hope Jones is ready for that, because I'd really fear for us to go into that game with the starting eleven and particularly the midfield two we started with yesterday. In fact with the resources available, there must be a very strong case for going into that game with three in the middle.
No comments:
Post a Comment