Back to winning ways,though for all the talk of meltdown recently, it's still five out of six victories in the premier league. I didn't mind the look of the team when I saw it, and had a sneak that Januzaj would start in the middle, with Kagawa on the left. After his display at Sunderland, and in fact for the better balance of the team, I thought that was the right move. I don't think it was all down to Januzaj, that in fact it didn't really happen and that we saw the best of the team, when the youngster moved out to the left and Kagawa moved inside at the beginning of the second half.
The central midfield pairing of Fletcher and Carrick looked an improvement on paper, it transpired it was better in the real world. Fletcher was excellent, considering everything, we can't pretend he's back to where he was before the illness, but promisingly, he seems to be getting there. Carrick started slowly but seemed to grow into the game, it wasn't perfect by any means, but that was far better than we have seen from the engine room for most of this season. It would be nice if we can keep these two fit and healthy as I would love to see Jones able to get a run of games at centre half at some stage of the second half of the season.
For all the talk of senior players not buying into the Moyes era, and the obvious decline of those said senior players, I wouldn't lump Vidic into the former group. Yes he's not the player he was, and I couldn't argue if United are happy to let him go in the summer. But when he has played, he has still been a leader on the pitch, I thought he was one of the few who could hold his head up after the defeat up at Sunderland. And again on Saturday, he was excellent, almost like the old days.
On the other hand I have my doubts about the future prospects of Chris Smalling, he has pace, reads the game reasonably, but does not look the part of a Manchester United player with the ball at his feet. Which is pretty odd really, because when he first arrived, that seemed to be a real strong point of his game. He still has time, I'm not writing him off, but there is an awful lot of improvement needed if he's ever going to really crack it at United.
As to the game, the first half was another none event. As I said, I thought the partnering of Januzaj behind Welbeck was the right thing to do. But with Kagawa giving another ineffectual performance on the left, and Valencia struggling to create much on the right, we struggled to hurt Swansea at the back on enough occasions. Obviously Swansea are a decent team, and you aren't going to control possession to the extent you do against lesser teams, but we gave them a bit too much respect in that first half as Flecther admitted after the game.
We did manage two serious efforts on goal though, Januzaj's free kick that hit the bar was a wicked effort, the pace and dip was almost Hughesesque. At the beginning of last season and indeed when he moved up to the reserves, his shooting was a bit of a weak link. He placement was spot on, as you'd expect, but he only rarely got the power you need to be testing the goalkeeper from outside the box. By the end of last season, that had really improved, but ever since that pre-season tour it's come on in leaps and bounds. The second chance fell to Welbeck who fluffed his lines.screwing it wide after easily the best move of the first half that involved Valencia and Rafael. It does kill me though, whenever he misses, we get the mantra that he's not a ntural finisher as if Rooney and Van Persie never missed the odd sitter. The next couple of season as he improves to become one of the best forwards in Europe are really going to kill the Danny haters.
The early opening goal really changed the game for me, yes Kagawa improved no end in the middle, Januzaj tormented the left back and Welbeck led the line superbly, Carrick and Fletcher got hold of the middle. But the goal killed the nerves to an extent and the confidence came flooding back. It was nice to see Danny get on the scoresheet, but it would have been even nicer to see Kagawa take the chance presented to him, I'm still not sure how he didn't finish it off. Still he gave a much improved display, I'm not as sure as I was that he'll make at United as I was though. Yes I still think he's a good player, I just worry that he'll turn out to be another Veron or Berbatov who just weren't suited to our style of play.
Anyway why finish on a downer, Januzaj got all all the plaudits, though I actually thought he was more impressive at Sunderland when he really stood up to the plate in a struggling side. Welbeck was our best player on Saturday, for my money, he was at the cntre of almost every attack until subbed right at the end, but there wasn't much in it. I love the way those two link up, they are real Manchester United players. I was a little disappointed Jesse Lingard didn't get a little cameo at the end, but it was nice to see him on the bench. But that's the way I always wanted this season to go, the youngsters getting a chance and hopefully taking it.
The central midfield pairing of Fletcher and Carrick looked an improvement on paper, it transpired it was better in the real world. Fletcher was excellent, considering everything, we can't pretend he's back to where he was before the illness, but promisingly, he seems to be getting there. Carrick started slowly but seemed to grow into the game, it wasn't perfect by any means, but that was far better than we have seen from the engine room for most of this season. It would be nice if we can keep these two fit and healthy as I would love to see Jones able to get a run of games at centre half at some stage of the second half of the season.
For all the talk of senior players not buying into the Moyes era, and the obvious decline of those said senior players, I wouldn't lump Vidic into the former group. Yes he's not the player he was, and I couldn't argue if United are happy to let him go in the summer. But when he has played, he has still been a leader on the pitch, I thought he was one of the few who could hold his head up after the defeat up at Sunderland. And again on Saturday, he was excellent, almost like the old days.
On the other hand I have my doubts about the future prospects of Chris Smalling, he has pace, reads the game reasonably, but does not look the part of a Manchester United player with the ball at his feet. Which is pretty odd really, because when he first arrived, that seemed to be a real strong point of his game. He still has time, I'm not writing him off, but there is an awful lot of improvement needed if he's ever going to really crack it at United.
As to the game, the first half was another none event. As I said, I thought the partnering of Januzaj behind Welbeck was the right thing to do. But with Kagawa giving another ineffectual performance on the left, and Valencia struggling to create much on the right, we struggled to hurt Swansea at the back on enough occasions. Obviously Swansea are a decent team, and you aren't going to control possession to the extent you do against lesser teams, but we gave them a bit too much respect in that first half as Flecther admitted after the game.
We did manage two serious efforts on goal though, Januzaj's free kick that hit the bar was a wicked effort, the pace and dip was almost Hughesesque. At the beginning of last season and indeed when he moved up to the reserves, his shooting was a bit of a weak link. He placement was spot on, as you'd expect, but he only rarely got the power you need to be testing the goalkeeper from outside the box. By the end of last season, that had really improved, but ever since that pre-season tour it's come on in leaps and bounds. The second chance fell to Welbeck who fluffed his lines.screwing it wide after easily the best move of the first half that involved Valencia and Rafael. It does kill me though, whenever he misses, we get the mantra that he's not a ntural finisher as if Rooney and Van Persie never missed the odd sitter. The next couple of season as he improves to become one of the best forwards in Europe are really going to kill the Danny haters.
The early opening goal really changed the game for me, yes Kagawa improved no end in the middle, Januzaj tormented the left back and Welbeck led the line superbly, Carrick and Fletcher got hold of the middle. But the goal killed the nerves to an extent and the confidence came flooding back. It was nice to see Danny get on the scoresheet, but it would have been even nicer to see Kagawa take the chance presented to him, I'm still not sure how he didn't finish it off. Still he gave a much improved display, I'm not as sure as I was that he'll make at United as I was though. Yes I still think he's a good player, I just worry that he'll turn out to be another Veron or Berbatov who just weren't suited to our style of play.
Anyway why finish on a downer, Januzaj got all all the plaudits, though I actually thought he was more impressive at Sunderland when he really stood up to the plate in a struggling side. Welbeck was our best player on Saturday, for my money, he was at the cntre of almost every attack until subbed right at the end, but there wasn't much in it. I love the way those two link up, they are real Manchester United players. I was a little disappointed Jesse Lingard didn't get a little cameo at the end, but it was nice to see him on the bench. But that's the way I always wanted this season to go, the youngsters getting a chance and hopefully taking it.
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